Today I got a last minute invitation that I just couldn’t pass up. My friend and neighbor Adrienne Carter is the President of the Board at the International Hospitality Council of Austin. From their site:

The International Hospitality Council of Austin (IHCA) demonstrates community leadership for providing a broad array of intercultural services for international students and visitors to Central Texas. …the organization is a forty-six year old nonprofit designated as a Center for International Visitors and therefore is the local contact agency for the U.S. Department of State. It is also a member of the National Council of International Visitors.

Basically, they host international visitors on business or government missions and make connections to local people and culture, non-profit and non-partisan. They are famous for hosting a yearly Consular Ball in partnership with the Mayor of Austin’s office and the Texas Secretary of State.

Adrienne invited me to join her at a dinner for Ambassador Tran Van Tung and Dr. Nguyen Manh Ha of Vietnam, fresh from their meetings last week with Hillary Clinton and Henry Kissenger. They attended a conference in Washington D.C. “U.S. & Vietnam: Commitment to a shared future” discussing our countries’ history together and the future. They are introduced by Clinton in the second paragraph.

Tung and Mahn Ha discussed American and Vietnamese food with us, the climate and environmental differences between Texas and Vietnam (could they be any more different?) and also heavier topics of learning from the war, politics of war and personal experiences. They told stories of families split between North and South, sometimes by politics, sometimes by chance. The devastation that American deforestation chemicals wrought on agriculture, medical issues on both sides caused by Agent Orange and the loss of family members. They told us of a monument to mothers represented by a 106 year old mother that lost her 9 sons, husband and brother to the American/Vietnam war.

We also spoke a little about Vietnam’s economic future, education goals and trade. Tung said they are very focused on education, sending thousands of students abroad for advanced degrees to help build business back in Vietnam. He spoke enthusiastically about Bill Gates‘ recent trips to Vietnam to encourage health, education, manufacturing and especially technology innovation. In the next sentence though, they mentioned they were also both very excited to have purchased iPads to bring back to share with their colleagues.

Mahn Ha also let us in on how much of a soccer fan he is, from Manchester United to Argentina’s River Plate team… unfortunately, I had to disagree with him, as my wife (who is from Argentina) is a HUGE fan of River Plate’s arch rival, Boca Juniors. It’s a small world when an Argentina futbol rivalry extends to Hanoi, Vietnam and back to Austin, Texas.
Thanks so much to my friend Adrienne and the IHCA, it was a pretty amazing experience to meet and have such great conversations with such prominent figures on the world stage… and to share such simple and powerful connections. I can’t say I have a good hook to bring this back to some marketing topic, but it was a great connection experience and a reminder that we have so much in common with each other, no matter what our history.

Life is moving faster for many of us, more demands are being placed on our time and attention, both personally (being a father, husband, friend, family) and professionally, (work, networking, learning) I’ve found myself paying more attention to ways to be more productive and to work on the right things at the right times.

Working as part of remote teams (does anyone work exclusively with people that are right next to them anymore?) these coordination and communication sessions are invaluable. We rely on each other more and more to handle complex tasks before, after or simultaneously with our efforts… how do we keep things moving slowly with a minimum of delays and inefficiencies?

A simple timer can kickstart tough work

I wanted to share a few resources I’ve found valuable.

Here’s a great article called “Doing the board” which is really close to the quick “daily scrums” I’ve been doing with some of the teams I work with. For those of you who know about Agile development, our scrums are a less technical version but still answer the basic 3 questions: “What did you do yesterday? What are you doing today? and What roadblocks do you have?” Here are some resources to explore these concepts: Mountain Goat Software, Scrum Basics website, a blog post on some additional best practices in holding the meeting.

A good article on Lifehacker, (one of my favorite daily reads) “I procrastinate because I care“, which explains a lot about perfectionists and their productivity… the concept is pretty clear in the title. The article also talks about the “Pomodoro Technique“, a timer-based way to kickstart large, complex or intimidating efforts. The concept is “I can do anything for 15 min or so” and you set a simple timer to start, knowing that an end is coming… you won’t be swamped forever in the complexity. A little more info here.

How do you and your team track personal and team tasks?

I’ve always loved Yoda’s famous line to Luke when he was intimidated by a big job… “Do, or do not. There is no try.”

Seth Godin has a great corollary to that sentiment:

I don’t feel like it. What’s it? Why do you need to feel like something in order to do the work? They call it work because it’s difficult, not because it’s something you need to feel like.

Even when it seems like an insurmountable or even unpleasant task in front of you, both contend that you approach it with the end result in mind. Looking at the next step in front of you isn’t as helpful as looking at the top of the hill and your goal. Don’t worry about how you feel at this step, just keep moving and you’ll reach your goal.

I like it. It’s my thought for the week.

Some new research on the peak and deterioration of mental ability:

Most people reach their mental peak between the ages of 35 and 40, then begin a steady decline that speeds up in the years before death, he said. The Swedish team wanted to test when that acceleration starts, in order to better understand the loss of mental ability.

I guess as I approach 40, I’m on the downhill side of my brain power… and here I thought I was in the trough already!

I’ve spent a little time recently on iTunesU (iTunes link), Apple’s area for free audio and video casts from universities around the US. I’m very impressed by the content and subject matter of these… I’ve downloaded a few and it’s great to keep in touch with some strategic thinking while traveling. Here are some of my favorites, add any you find in the comments.

Yale Business and Management
From problem-solving to experimental design and innovation.
iTunes link.

Stanford University’s Human-Computer Interaction Seminar
From usability testing and designing for simplicity to human cognition and sketching experience design.
iTunes link.

Stanford University’s Technology Ventures Program
From startups and social networking to successful negotiations, branding and leadership.
iTunes link.

MIT Business and Leadership
Guanxi, the Art of Relatinships: Microsoft and China
iTunes link.

AmEx OPEN Forum Videos
With Seth Godin the marketing visionary, Sean Parker of Facebook and Jimmy Wales of Wikipedia.
Web link.

What are your favorites?

I’ve been meaning to post on this for quite a while… it’s an article on “boosting your brain power” and memory from the BBC. It’s based on research and a tv program… unfortunately I didn’t get to see it, but the article is pretty interesting. Basically, change up your routine, get out of our rote comfort zone and your brain is the better for it. (but I’m sooo not avoiding caffeine!)

It is not an intelligence-boosting formula likely to impress an Oxbridge don: watching Countdown, playing Sudoku, remembering telephone numbers and taking a shower with your eyes closed. Yet doing ‘brain exercises’ such as these can make us all up to 40 per cent cleverer within seven days.

I’ve tried the “closing your eyes in the shower” thing… it’s an interesting experience. You certainly have to solve new problems, like “how do I know when I have enough shampoo?”
Doing quizzes and puzzles as they recommend is something I’ve always liked, but rarely made time for. The Nintendo DS has been making the news for their “Brain Age” game, training your brain and improving memory. Anyone tried it?

There are some new websites that give you online brain training and memory improvement. MyBrainTrainer.com ($2.95/month) and Happy-Neuron.com ($9.95/month) are both subscription services.

Over the next few months I’ll try both of these online services and give you a more complete review… Will I be smarter? I’ll let my customers and my wife be the judge of that…

Google is clear on their mission: “To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”

With that in mind, they just announced an investment in 23andMe.com, a startup focused on helping individuals make sense of their genetic information. Says a founder (who happens to be Sergey Brin’s new wife):

“Our goal is to allow individuals to gain deeper insights into their ancestry, genealogy and inherited traits and, ultimately, the option to work together to advance the overall understanding of the human genome.”

Interesting… in several ways:

One, in that it’s sure to make privacy concerns about Google’s indexing of information a very ot topic soon. Now Google is interesting in developing ways to index DNA and the human genome, inherited traits, and possibly personal genetic records. Wow. On top of knowing everything I look at online and my email, they may start learning about me and gene pool.

(Google-Watch.org is on top of that info, with details on why here. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of Google and their products!
Secondly, this is interesting because DNA testing is starting to be a hot area… it’s certainly captured my attention. Many people are very interested in their history and where they came from… anyone famous or of historical significance in my gene pool?

There are a few other companies that are in this space… Steve Case’s RevolutionHealth.com sells a kit, but FamilyTreeDNA.com is really a wealth of knowledge. They also allow you to compare your DNA to those they have indexed from different races and ethnic groups, surnames, and even historical figures such as Genghis Kahn and Thomas Jefferson.

(The FamilyTreeDNA website could use some work though… I have NO IDEA what kit I should buy.
What about you, would you buy DNA testing from a company that has so much information about you already?

I’d love to hear from anyone that’s had one of these DNA tests done.

My pal Gordon brought his new Hipster PDA on our trek to the Apple store this weekend. I’ve been hearing about it, but it’s the first time I’ve seen one.

For those of you who haven’t seen it, the Hipster PDA is a product of Merlin Mann’s 43 Folders Site. His directions on getting yours:

Building your first Hipster PDA

1. 1. Get a bunch of 3″x5″ file cards
2. 2. Clip them together with a binder clip
3. 3. There is no step 3

I have plenty of electronics, but I may try this idea out. Next to my work cell, personal cell, iPod, GPS and the occasional notebook computer, it’s not like I need another gadget… It’s not exactly a Luddite reaction, but I like the simplicity of it… that it’s essentially free, I can shuffle and take out pages, stick them to my wall, attach them to client folders etc. All which would ruin my nice Molskine notebook that I have.

More info and pics here, and even a “hacks” site where you can find templates for printing your calendar out in the right format/size, pen clip ideas, and more.

I’ll give it a try and see if it keeps up with me… What do you use to keep your ideas, tasks and daily life in order?

Ever since Psychology 101 years ago, I’ve been fascinated with the human brain… memory, agility, reasoning, logic, even the physiology and it’s elasticity. I’ve casually read what I could in the years since, but I’m seeing more and more research and information about it, even subscription websites offering to keep your brain exercised and in shape. (I’ll review some of those soon.)

I’ve decided to make more regular postings on “Your #1 Business Tool, Your Brain.” I hope you’ll enjoy it!

A great first research article on how exercising can help build your brain… literally.

Can exercising the body build up the mind? Several studies have hinted that it does. … Now comes an explanation that may win over doubters: Workouts build more brain cells.

The study showed in mice and humans, that after a few weeks of regular treadmill workouts, there were up to 30% more neurons in the brain, as well as “as significant improvement on cognitive tests after a 3 month workout.”

Sounds like another good reason to get out and run/walk/bike! Enjoy!