Podcast perfection: Businessweek podcasts

Businessweek.com has one of the best podcasts in the world right now. Just check out the 5 star ratings on iTunes.

I've a couple of hundred BW podcasts in my iPod that I listen every time I commute to work. So much so that the time I spend listening to these podcasts is more than that of what I spend on music.

What makes these podcasts work is because they have personalities. They are character based. The same reason that made the Mr Brown Show podcasts so popular.

Let me take my favourite podcast title of all, Behind The Cover (BTC). BTC is a weekly podcast that takes readers behind the scenes of the cover story. Chief executive editor John Byrne talks with the writer/s who wrote the cover story.

Each podcast is about 10 to 20 minutes. The discussion will touch on how they approach the story and their personal opinion on the topics. You literally go behind the scenes with the writers. You get to know how they tackle their stories. What difficulties they have to surmount and things that they wanted to put on the magazine but can't because of space. Each week, different writers will talk on the podcast, bringing with their their personality on air.

At the end of the podcast, you'll get a clear picture of what happens behind all the story gathering to make up what you see on the magazine. Although you'll probably never see these people in real life, but after the podcast, you will feel as though you have met them.

BW has managed, through the podcast, to break down the barrier of mystery that surrounds the news making industry. But that's not to say that they reveal all the secrets of their trade. But other media companies can definitely learn something useful from them.

I believe

This is a quote from John D Rockefeller in 1941. It's found on the plaque in front of Rockefeller's plaza which I happened to chanced upon. Gives a little insight into what would be the world's richest man if he had still been alive.

- I believe in the supreme worth of the individual and in his right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness;

- I believe that every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty;

- I believe that the law was made for man and not man for the law; that government is the servant of the people and not their master;

- I believe in the dignity of labour, whether with head or hand; that the world owes no man a living but that it owes every man an opportunity to make a living;

- I believe that thrift is essential to well ordered living and that economy is a prime requisite of a sound financial structure, whether in government, business or personal affairs;

- I believe that truth and justice are fundamental to an enduring social order;

- I believe in the sacredness of a promise, that a man's word should be as good as his bond; that character - not wealth or power or position - is of supreme worth;

- I believe that the rendering of useful service is the common duty of mankind and that only in the purifying fire of sacrifice is the dross of selfishness consumed and the greatness of the human soul set free;

- I believe in an all-wise and all-loving God, named by whatever name, and that the individual's highest fulfilment, greatest happiness and widest usefulness are to be found in living in harmony with His will;

- I believe that love is the greatest thing in the world; that it alone can overcome hate; that right can and will triumph over might.

Pony tailed CEO has a blog

Of all the CEOs I know, not personally of course, there's only one with a pony tail. That's Sun Microsystem's CEO for you, Jonathan Schwartz. He happens to be the only CEO who blogs, as far as I know. I found the link from Wikinomics, a book which I finished reading months ago.

Interestingly and coincidentally, his latest entry is on how the issues surrounding the print media and software companies.

I find it pretty remarkable for someone of such a high status in the corporate ladder be doing something like blogging. Isn't blogging for the hip and trendy younger folks? And you're a businessman, you'll immediately ask the value of blogging, from a CEO's perspective.

Blogging is actually just another medium to communicate to readers. When you're a CEO, you can categorise your readers into different segments. Very noticeably, the two main segments will be your own employees and the public.

Schwartz obviously is using his blog to be more accessible more personal to his employees. Sun is a large company with close to 35,000 employees. There's no way that people will know how the CEO is like or what he's thinking or more importantly, understand the actions he takes.

That's where the blog come in. Employees who read the blog will be able to identify his ideology. They will know at least which direction the company is heading towards and the plans he has for the company in the future. When you're down in the trenches, you will want your employees to know where to go.

The other advantage is you get to find out how your readers feel. You can also gain insights to ideas replied as comments by readers. Granted that you won't know who the readers are since they are anonymous, but at least you can see generally which camps the readers are coming from.

Saving Time With RSS And Readers

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. Basically, it gathers news feeds in the form of title and content. No ads or other unnecessary stuff that usually take up more space than the content itself.

RSS saves time by giving you all the headlines with short accompanying summaries. It's all the news in one page. RSS has been around for years and many websites have RSS links that you can bookmark.

Just look for the keywords "RSS" and "Feeds" on the web pages. Another way to tell if the page has RSS is to look at the address bar for a small icon on the right. Depending on the browser, it might look different or don't even have it. Below are how it would look on Firefox and Safari.




There are many RSS readers available on the Internet for free.

I'm using Google Reader because it loads from the website. That means I can use Google Reader anywhere where there's Internet. Also, I have a Google account.

There's nothing like keeping up with the news in seconds.

Book Review: What Really Matters

This is no doubt one of the best business book I've read this year. Even after reading the first chapter, I knew I had to give it 5 stars.

John Pepper is the ex-CEO of P&G from 1995 to 1999. He is now the chairman of the board at Walt Disney Company and a CEO of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.

As you can see from the cover, the book talks on service, leadership, people and values. Throughout the book, you'll be be presented with never ending life experiences from John Pepper over his 40 over years of service in P&G.

The book is divided into three parts, Foundations for Success, Staying in the Lead and How We Live Our Lives.

In the first part, he talked on the principles behind brand building. He drew on numerous examples to make his point.

For the second part, he touched on how P&G was involved in community building and the important role it played for the company.

In the last part, it was about management in general and how he lead his company and what he learned during the years at P&G.

Even though you may not have worked for P&G, after reading the book, you will have a very thorough understanding of the guiding principles of P&G.

Stop Making Fun Of Us

Some interesting advertising copy that's floating in cyberspace.

Steve Jobs 1982

Source: http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0712/y_walker08.html

This is so cool.