Courtesy of I Can Has Cheezburger.com:
So you’re stuck in a cubicle managing the supply chain? Have no fear … the Lolcats have advice for you too!
For protecting your cubicle valuables:
For assembling your cubicle furniture:
For dealing with slow PCs:
For deciding who goes to get lunch:
For drawing the line:
Brian Sommer just published a great piece on your analyst firm pitch over on Software and Services Safari that is a must read for anyone who wants to pitch analysts … or certain bloggers … who are short on time (and short on patience when it comes to bad pitches).
He offers four pieces of advice that you should take to heart.
When you get a chance to brief an analyst (or blogger), remember that this isn’t an opportunity to drone on and on about yourself. You need to cultivate the image that you and your firm are special, thoughtful and strategic. The analyst (or blogger) needs to learn something from this exchange. If the only thing they learn is the names of your executives and the solutions you sell, I’ll guarantee that the analyst (or blogger) won’t write a report about you or, worse, will write a negative one. Analysts (and bloggers) write about things that impress them. Give them something to write about!
I could not have said it better myself.
While some of you might think that the doctor has a bit of an anti-social streak because he’s still faceless, spaceless, and twitter-free, that’s not the case. the doctor just has no time for useless social networking sites that do nothing but suck up your valuable time while offering you little or no value in return.
the doctor is on Linked-in, Plaxo, and Ki-Work and is even looking into other useful services like Trip-it and SlideShare because he believes in business networks and business tools that enhance your productivity, knowledge, and networking capability in the true spirit of B2B 3.0. In addition, the doctor has set up the Sourcing Innovation Linked-in Group and the Sourcing Innovation Plaxo Group where you can discuss topics addressed on SI, ask questions, and even recommend future topics!
I really hope you’ll join and participate in the SI Group. Whereas some blogs exist just to feed the blogger’s ego, Sourcing Innovation is all about educating, informing, and, maybe even, inspiring you. (I can assure you that the doctor has no self-esteem problems. He knows he’s awesome.) Sourcing Innovation is about down-to-earth discussions about technologies, strategies, best-practices, and innovations that you can use. And if you have great idea for future series, I’m all ears. Furthermore, if I can’t provide you with the knowledge you seek, I’m quite happy to invite the experts that can. (Sourcing Innovation has already featured more thought leaders than just about every other blog in the supply and spend management space combined, and, as per last week’s post on how Sourcing Innovation brings you the best from the best, I’m working on lining up dozens more as you read this!)
So if you’re looking for the doctor, feel free to send me an e-mail or to reach out on one of the networks above.
… and Sourcing Innovation crosses the 1,000,000 word mark!
That’s right, after a mere three years and three months, Sourcing Innovation crossed the 1,000,000 word mark yesterday and became only the second supply management blog to reach that point. Not even e-Sourcing Forum and Supply Excellence, the only other blogs that have been publishing as long and (almost) as regularly, have come close to reaching this mark.
| Blog | Live (Y-M-D) | Posts (Approx) * | Words (Approx) * |
| Spend Matters | 2004-11-30 | 3,265 | 1,180,354 |
| Sourcing Innovation | 2006-06-09 | 1,472 | 1,000,337 |
| e-Sourcing Forum | 2005-08-30 | 1,013 | 386,369 |
| Supply Excellence | 2006-04-30 | 737 | 234,292 |
To put this in perspective, the entire Harry Potter series (all seven books) only contains 1,090,739 words. This says that, in a little over three years, on this blog alone, I’ve provided you more free content than J. K. Rowling published in the Harry Potter series over the span of a decade. And let me repeat the phrase “on this blog alone” because I’ve also (co-)authored almost the entire e-Sourcing Wiki (which contains over 30 distinct wiki-papers consisting of over 229,160 words), contributed over 90 guest posts to various blogs and e-publications (some of which are indexed in this post and this post and total over 86,000 words), authored a number of Illuminations and white-papers (which collectively contain over 21,050 words) and co-authored and edited the e-Sourcing Handbook (which is approximately 91,500 words). (If you add it all up, that’s over 1,427,700 words!)
And, dear marketer, that’s one of the many reasons why your search traffic comes here.
*Methodology: Since each blog uses a standard blog package that utilizes common page structures, utilizing the “archive” URL format by day, I wrote a script that downloaded each day and extracted each unique URL using the “post” URL format (over time). It then downloaded each post page, extracted the post, saved it as text, and ran it through a word counter. (Random) Errors or inconsistencies in page generation (caused by a stray special character, etc.) could have prevented some posts from being extracted or properly parsed, but my manual checks satisfied me that over 95% of posts were captured and properly parsed, so the table is at least relatively accurate.
Somehow, I don’t think even the Count is laughing now. After all, I’m sure his mansion is on the foreclosure list too.
That’s why I find this recent announcement from Sesame Workshop on it’s upcoming special on Families Standing Together: Feeling Secure in Tough Times both humorous and frightening at the same time.
In today’s economic climate, approximately two out of three middle class families are at high risk of sustaining or losing their economic security. Moreover, increases in job loss and income cuts have made families struggle with basic costs like housing, medical care, transportation, food, clothing, and child care. Too often, parents are being forced to make difficult decisions that affect their children’s well-being.
In response to these recent changes in family economics, Sesame Street has produced, in association with David Letterman’s production company Worldwide Pants Incorporated and Lookalike Productions, a new PBS primetime special that aims to help families with children, ages two to eight, experiencing difficult economic circumstances by offering strategies and tips that can lead to positive outcomes for their children’s physical and emotional well-being during this tough economic climate which will air on PBS on September 9 and feature Grover and Elmo.
I just hope “rich-poor” doesn’t replace “near-far” as classic Grover.