Social Responsibility Expert Blog
May 5, 2008
12:29 pm | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment
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Posted by Tim Manners
My daily online missive may be called "Cool News" but sometimes the stories I write about are anything but cool. In fact, every once in a while the news is the opposite of cool.
That was certainly true of a news item I picked up from the May 5th edition of the New York Times. The story was about how the number of supermarkets in New York City is declining even though the need for supermarkets there is growing, specifically in low-income neighborhoods.
That may not sound like the stuff of tragedy to you, but it is a real hardship for Della Dorset, who is in a wheelchair. Della used to be able to scoot across the street to get her groceries. But that store has now been demolished, to make way for a housing development and other types of retail.
So, now, as David Gonzales reports in the Times, Della has to navigate her electric wheelchair "several blocks uphill ... returning home with plastic bags dangling from the handles and nestled between her feet." I mean, can you imagine?
But the issue here is not limited to just Della. Supermarkets are disappearing from low-income neighborhoods because their margins are thin, the rents are going up, and price competition from big-box stores is intensifying.
In many cases, as David Gonzales writes, the supermarkets are replaced by discount stores and pharmacies where the food is processed and the beverages are sugared. No fresh anything in sight. The result, according to Amanda Burden, the city's planning director, is "a health crisis in the city."
At this point I could start to rant about the lack of corporate social responsibility in the supermarket business. But there's no news, cool or otherwise, in that.
Instead, I'll point to another story I found a couple of days later, also in the New York Times, this one by Tracie McMillan, about how some inner-city folks who do not have access to fresh fruit and vegetables in supermarkets are growing their own -- organically.
Among them is Karen Washington, who grew up in Harlem and lives in the South Bronx but dreamed of being a farmer since she was a little girl. She's been realizing that dream since 1985, not only growing her own organic crops in a nearby vacant lot, but in such abundance that she sells her excess at a local farm stand she helped establish.
"It's not about making money," says Karen. "We're selling so that people in our neighborhood have good quality. There's no Whole Foods in my neighborhood." To put it mildly.
As unlikely as Karen's story sounds, it is far from unique: "This urban agriculture movement has grown even more vigorously elsewhere. Hundreds of farmers are at work in Detroit, Milwaukee, Oakland and other areas that, like East New York, have low-income residents, high rates of obesity and diabetes, limited sources of fresh produce, and available, undeveloped land."
Karen is now working on starting a full-blown farmer's market as well as an urban farm school, where she says she hopes kids will learn that tomatoes don't originate from supermarkets.
Now, how cool is that?
11:17 am | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment
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Posted by Terry Tamminen
Last week I visited Walmart’s annual sustainable packaging conference in
Bentonville, Arkansas. I learned that
the first such meeting took place in a conference room in Walmart’s
headquarters just three years ago and 50 people attended. The 2008 version
needed a massive convention center and was bursting at the seams with
suppliers, shippers, and buyers of eco-friendly packaging. You can see where
this trend is going.
So what does Walmart know that the rest of the world may still be trying
to understand? CEO Lee Scott reportedly told his employees and suppliers alike
to reduce wasteful, non-recyclable packaging, because Walmart was paying for
waste twice - - once when the package came in the door, and once when they paid
someone to haul it away from the back of the stores. Walmart saw the
opportunity to benefit the environment and their bottom line at the same time.
But how does the world’s largest retailer cut the waste from so many
products? They computerized a scorecard, evaluating packaging on a variety of
sustainability metrics that flow all the way back down the supply chain.
Vendors get a score for the packaging of each item and are then automatically
directed to suppliers of products that are more sustainable any time the packaging
comes up short.
Walmart took a simple problem - - but a massive one - - and created a
clever, self-perpetuating solution. Bottom line? Less waste, more recyclable
content (that Walmart now separates and recycles at a profit), better
economics, better environment.
Who says you can’t judge a book, or any other product, by its cover?!
03:24 pm | 1 recommendation | Be the first to comment
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Posted by Terry Tamminen
Everyone hates their taxes being spent on subsidies - - unless it’s to
subsidize their own industry. It’s time for an honest debate about the role of
subsidies in a 21st Century economy and, at least, a restructuring
to a more level playing field.
Examples? When I served in California state government, the
Schwarzenegger administration tried for three years to push through a solar
incentive package. Ultra-conservative State Senator Tom McClintock rose during
the debate in red-faced indignation and bitterly opposed any subsidy of an
industry that couldn’t stand on its own two feet. I’ve heard that argument
repeatedly, often by the same politicians who support massive subsidies to the
oil and coal incumbents, despite the fact such “incentives” are hardly needed
to get fossil fuels out of the ground.
The latest salvo comes from President Bush, who yesterday said it was
time to end subsidies to “multimillionaire farmers.” He was addressing a point
about sharp increases in food prices, making wealthy agribusinesses even
wealthier, partially the result of rising fuel costs and ill-conceived
government mandates/incentives to produce ethanol. Ironically, the President
told Congress he would veto any bill than shifts even a small portion of the $100
billion/year subsidies given to oil companies towards alternative energy
sources.
Given that oil companies are recording profits that are the highest in
the history of commerce - - not just in the oil business, in the history of ALL
commerce - - it is hard to fathom. Moreover, some say the incentives are still
needed to keep oil companies investing in new oil exploration and to build more
refinery capacity. But few new discoveries are being made or exploited and
refinery expansion lags demand by an increasing and exponential pace. So much
for performance-based subsidies.
The role of subsidies should not be annuities for wealthy campaign
contributors, but should be used as a way to level the playing field when
incumbents have been given a similar (or far greater) head start. They should
be strategically used to jumpstart businesses that will provide multiple
benefits to the people - - in the case of incentives for renewable fuels or
clean energy technology, the benefits are domestic jobs, reduced dependence on
a shrinking fuel source, exports, improved public health by reducing pollution,
and a planet that is less at risk of biting us in the backside with ever more
drastic climate change impacts.
Those multiple benefits are something the incumbents can’t provide - -
and it’s time to tilt the playing field in the direction of positive outcomes
and end the fossil-fueled, taxpayer-funded boondoggles to the rich.
April 4, 2008
07:25 am | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment
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Posted by Adisa Banjoko
Never say Adisa Banjoko didn't hook you up!
Wuchess is history: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pphl9CFwHMY
NBC 11 coverage of HHCF:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VH8kBM2YDS8
www.wuchess.com
-Adisa Banjoko
01:01 pm | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment
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Posted by Lynette Chiang
Last post I detailed my 24-hour worryfest over a TurboTax glitch.
It turned out no more sinister than a doh! from deep in the bowels Intuit HQ.
The TurboTax damage control unit are all over me now.
Someone saw my mayday on FastCompany and hit DEFCON 10.
The "Turbo Tax Customer Care Specialist Supervisor", Jodie, jumped on my
advertised offer to phone or email me in Australia and
come to my rescue.
Jodie is the Customer Evangelist (CE) you have when you don't have a customer evangelist.
She's eager to help but naturally, speaks from the stance of we,
Intuit, and you, the customer. No crime in that, but no CE points just
yet.
I'd saved them a lot of angst, she said. After a cue from me ("I would
LOVE you to upgrade my Quicken 2004"), she asked what Intuit could do
for me. I'm no freebie hound, but noted the opportunity for CE points:
Offer reparations first, and let the customer refuse.
It was pretty simple - I need my tax done.
It so happens Intuit offer a service called Personal Pro, the
flagship product in their fleet of tax preparation services. It involves a
human being, hopefully with a CPA sticker, processing your return at the other end, for a
hundred or so bucks.
So I'm going to test drive Personal Pro from a customer point of view, and see how a big, successful corp handles an untrained monkey pushing a button and saying "what
does this one do?"
This is less about being a free ad for Intuit, and more about what makes for a great online customer experience.
TurboTax's online presence is attractive and well written – it hooked me:
http://turbotax.intuit.com/personal-taxes/online/personal-pro/
And here's the rub: I can't say the same for their offline communications.
I received a
couple of emails from another part of their damage control unit which
bore little relevance to my experience. This is like a large
company not having a decent note recording system – you've just
finished telling them your life story and the next time you call they say 'que?'
So Copy-Right It!
Here's the email, with suggested CE-style tweaking in []'s.
Dear Lynette Chiang, [Why not just "Dear Lynette"?]
Thank you for contacting TurboTax Office of the President. I do
apologize for the inconvenience, but we were unable to reach you by
phone with our first contact attempt.
[Thank you for letting us know about a possible TurboTax problem. We tried calling you but weren't able to track you down.]
After researching the issue that you are experiencing with TurboTax, I
have found that the e-mail you received was for the Extension Express
program provided by TurboTax. The program is designed to help a
customer e-file a Form 4868 Application for Automatic Extension of Time
to File a U.S. Individual Income Tax Return.
If you would like more information on this program and its features,
please go to Turbotax.com/Support and type in "6004" in the search
menu. That will bring up the Support Article: Use the New TurboTax
Extension Express to Apply for an Extension of Time. Please use that
article to gain more information on the program and its features.
[I see you've tried to use our Extension Express program. You'll
find the instructions at this link: www.Turbotax.com/Support. Just type
in "6004" to display the article 'Extension Express: Apply for an
Extension of Time.' We've tried to explain how this works as best we
can - please let us know if we can make clearer.]
Your willingness to help Intuit improve by taking the time to provide
suggestions and feedback is greatly appreciated. Below you will find a
link to a survey asking you about my performance on today's contact, as
well as any additional comments you may have in regards to the TurboTax
product. Your help will allow us to understand where we can improve .
So we can continue with our promise to provide our customers with the
best support available, please take a few minutes to complete the
survey. Please accept our sincere gratitude for any feedback you choose
to provide.
https://survey.turbotax.intuit.com/TTSurvey/Survey.aspx?s=fb81963f73484fc1b79f5b14d470cbd9&ForceNew=true
[Why isn't this a more digestible URL?]
[One more thing. There's a link to a brief survey below. Can you spare
a moment to fill it in? It will help make TurboTax a better and
smoother experience for all of us. If you need to contact me at any
time, go to this link: www.turbotax.com/feedback]
If you have any additional concerns, please contact me at any time by
calling me at (866) 373-7829, Monday - Friday 8 AM -5 PM PST. Either
myself or another member of my team will be happy to assist you.
Thank you for your time in this matter.
Respectfully,
Anthony C
Customer Care Specialist
Consumer Tax Group
**Please do not reply to this message. This e-mail was sent from a
notification-only address that cannot accept incoming e-mail.
Please note:
If you are in further need of Service or Support please visit us here:
http://support.turbotax.intuit.com.
[The sign-off is important – leave people feeling heard and confident. A full name inspires that trust.
Call me on (866) 373-7829, Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm Pacific
Standard Time. I, or someone I've briefed, will be here to help you.
Thank you for trusting us with your tax return.
Anthony Conran
Your TurboTax Customer Care Specialist
PS: Don't hit 'reply' on this message, it's a notice for you only -
call us instead. If you need more help, visit Service and Support here:
http://support.turbotax.intuit.com.
]
Thus, "damage control" English = English as a first, or very proficient second language.
To borrow an advertising dictum: say it straight, then say it great.
Words can mean the difference between 1 "unsubscribe" or 1000; between
being forgiven and being sued.
Former Saatchi & Saatchi copywriter the Galfromdownunder says, a picture may paint a thousand words, but a dozen great words can save you.
06:07 pm | 0 recommendations | 1 comment
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Posted by Lynette Chiang
April 9: See UPDATE at the end of this article.
+++
With tax time approaching, spammers, scammers and phishermen are kicking it up a notch - with kid leather toecaps. Not only are their fake phishing sites getting slicker and sexier, they've even got customer service departments to respond to your cries for help.
Recently I looked up from wherever I had my head buried to note the looming tax return D-Day. Despite attempting each year to do my own taxes, I've caved in to H&R Block, running to sit beside one of their certified caftan wearing grandmothers or MG restoration experts, leaving relieved that someone with a certificate ok'd my number crunching. This year I thought, if millions of others can do it themselves, why not save my $300 and do likewise?
Of course, the task sank immediately to the bottom of my to-do tray.
No problem, just file an extension, right? Except that I'm on the road Downunder.
Well, surely I can do the modern thing and file this unremarkable form online?
Googling about suggests no – one needs to print it out and mail it in. Wait, the IRS says yes … via some "partner" sites. I find it a little disturbing that more and more sites, including the IRS, are directing you away to someone else's cyber-backyard – feels a bit like pulling away from the mother ship in a patched rubber dinghy with the mist closing in …
I thus landed on (what I thought was) the Intuit TurboTax site
http://turbotax.intuit.com/support/kb/general-program-issues/tax-essentials/605.html
which seemed to offer what I was looking for - "TurboTax Extension Express" .
Clicking on the rather obscure link leads you to a promising page:
http://turbotax.intuit.com/lp/ty07/extensionexpress/
then to a page with a strange, lonely box, asking for your login and user id.
https://www.turbotax-extension.com/ExtensionExpress/extFiling.html?prioritycode=4510900000
Something doesn't seem right. The license agreement and privacy policy links didn't work. All headers are missing. You can't even mail the page contents to yourself, the contents disappear in an email. Hmmmmm.
Like a fool I soldiered on, not thinking for a moment that perhaps, being Downunder, someone might have gotten in between me and the real Intuit. The technical term for this is "link-jacking".
I filled out the form.
It asked me for my social security number, which doh! I duly supplied.
I submitted the form, and soon received a suspicious "receipt" in my junk mailbox.
Who was this LYNETTE CHIANG, living in 1000 Main Street San Diego, a few thousand miles from where I live in the USA? Here's the receipt.
The system told me the request had been submitted, but strangely, I wasn't asked for any money. I rationalized they'd get me when I resumed my online filing.
On attempting to save the receipt as a PDF, I ended up with a blank page. I got uncomfortable, and wrote to Intuit via their Contact screen.
At least I thought it was Intuit.
From: support@turbotax.com
Subject: RE: Customer Service (#6565-98874206-9263)
Date: April 7, 2008 9:22:27 PM GMT+10:00
To: lynchiang@yahoo.com
Reply-To: support@turbotax.com
Dear Lynette Chiang ,
Thank you for contacting TurboTax Customer Service & Support.
Lynette, I understand that you have followed a link from our web site to file an extension. And it asked your SSN. Also you received an confirmation email. However you feel that this was not a right one.
Lynette, please do not worry. I will surely help you to resolve your issue. I checked with the order number you have provided and found that you have file an Online federal Extension for 2007. So Please do not worry. The link you have provided is the right one to file an Extension. So I kindly request you not to worry about this.
I am glad that we have resolved your issue today. You may receive a survey from us through e-mail in approximately 24 hours asking you about my performance on today's contact,
as well as comments you may have in regards to the TurboTax product. So we can continue with our promise to provide our customers with the best support available, please take a few minutes to complete the survey.
Respectfully,
Geetha
TurboTax Customer Service & Support
Have a great day!
Here's what it looked like
Oh woe is me. The above email raises several flags, for sloppy language, punctuation and the fact that the email comes from "turbotax" rather than Intuit - they say in several places on their site, "all our correcpondence will come from Intuit". But since I've been on the line for three days to a fairly helpful Call Center in India about a separate problem - trying to get my wireless USB modem working - how can I say anything negative about Geetha and not sound xenophobic?
Net scammers could well be rejoicing that their giveaway bad spelling and grammar might now be their best weapon, given that customer service is increasingly farmed out to foreign language call centers.
Feeling concerned, I told Geetha that I was going to report this to the IRS, but … the email bounced.
Slightly panicking, I decided to try and place a 90 day fraud alert on my credit report.
Via the (hopefully) trustworthy Federal Trade Commission Site, I navigated over to Equifax.com, one of the three credit reporting agencies.
Lo and behold, another online link, with a smiling woman also asking you for your social security number. Doggedly I filled it in and was dismayed when "nothing happened" on hitting enter – another telltale sign of something phishy.
https://www.alerts.equifax.com/AutoFraud_Online/jsp/fraudAlert.jsp#
I tried to call Equifax but was led around a phone labyrinth – the kind that say "good bye" at the end and hangs up.
Even the FTC site looked suspicious, asking for a barrage of info to be typed into a rather rudimentary HTML page:
https://rn.ftc.gov/pls/dod/widtpubl$.startup?Z_ORG_CODE=PU03
And then I read with dismay that fake credit card agencies are now the vogue:
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/fakealrt.shtm
Not to mention Turbotax admitting to being a target itself for internet fraud:
http://turbotax.intuit.com/support/kb/tax-content/tax-tips/6113.html
Now why didn't they tell me this is big bold letters on their homepage?
Finally, I thought I'd appeal to the Intuit/Turbotax community. I tried to go onto the TurboTax forum and ask the rabble for their smarts, but despite being logged in, it kept asking me to log in.
There was nothing about any of this under www.snopes.com either.
I really don't know what to do or what make of all this – calling anyone leads to endless phone menus. I've either been phished, scammed and spammed, or web designers are just getting sloppy – I'd normally berate them for that crime, but they'll get a stay of execution this one time.
Exhuming my long lost skills as a former software tester, I went back into the extension request site to repeat the steps using dummy data, and this time a brand new screen popped up asking me to pay $9.95 and enter credit card details. Hello Intuit, is that you?
I'll be damned if I'm going to stick in any more personal data!
Now if Intuit had a Customer Evangelist she'd be on the phone calling me right now on my Australian mobile 0420 968 967 or emailing me at my address lynettec at bikefriday dot com to solve my problem before I did any more PR damage – rather than have me scrambling about trying to contact them with no success. And the whole tax community would rise up and squash the scammers, like when our community recovered a stolen Bike Friday in Berkeley last year.
Remember, a community needs to be fed and watered – a slew of forums full of unanswered pleas does not a community make.
I really hope, for my sake, that Intuit/Turbotax Extension Express page is no more sinister than a bit of sloppy programming and mismanaged feature release. I've already experienced this in Australia lsat week - Vodafone's "check your balance" number simply told you to hang up and call that number. What ever happened to system testing?
I'm a child of the electronic age, but after this, I'm going to start championing pencil and paper again. Make that a wax pencil, the kind the Russian astronauts adopted – rather one that writes upside down in a vat of honey
Bike Friday Customer Evangelist the Galfromdownunder hopes she's utterly misguided on this and welcomes opinions from others. Now, is the H&R Block granny in the caftan available this afternoon?
+++
UPDATE April 9: After 2 days of frustration, I was rescued by some tech-savvy and CPA customers in the Bike Friday community who jumped onto this and the end result, after Intuit initially thought it was a scam, is daft but innocent. Thank you to Fred W in California and Bjorn in Seattle for the sleuthing:
Lynette,
Good News -- it was not a scam. I finally trickled down to the
department involved and here is what happened:
1) The Intuit programmer in San Diego when out an personally reserved
the website when the idea came up (so nobody else could take it).
That was against all company policy (but having worked for a large
corporation I can understand the desired to just "do something")
2) They also are not very happy about the email that was sent to you
-- the security person I talked to (Glee, her info is below) said to
tell you "we really aren't idiots" and that the matter is being
addressed.
So if nothing else, we've given the people at Intuit and interesting afternoon.
Cheers,
Fred.
Later, after customers fingered Intuit's location, office, and helplines using whois.com and gethuman.com, I received a note from a human being called Glee, who sounded a little like Intuit's cyber-brunette:
I accept this message on behalf of Intuit. You will receive additional information directly from Intuit’s TurboTax Support. (Twice)
Before softening up:
Well, Lynette, we are indeed human. Some times we are so fast we trip over our own feet. J I’ve sent your note on to our wonderful director of Assisted Support and you will no doubt hear from him soon.
Good luck with your taxes and hope your time down under is fun.
/glee
Well, Glee it hasn't been fun thanks to you folks, but it brings a little smile to my face: Big Corp brought down a few notches to sit eye to eye with our fallible selves. It does make Intuit seem human, something I've been championing all along in this Work/Life blog. Now if they could just do it without frustrating their entrepreneurial staff and scaring the hell out of us. Consider this a case study in the dire importance of clear and present customer communication, from web to woe.
Later ... I still haven't heard from their director of Assisted Support, and my one remaining concern: has my application for extension to do my taxes been received by the IRS, or hasn't it? I did not sign up to be your beta tester, Intuit!
I guess it's time to take a trip to the post office with an airmail envelope and a stamp ... - LC
12:10 pm | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment
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Posted by Adisa Banjoko
Before most people cared about the UCF and MMA culture, only a chosen few saw what what coming. These are the folks who would trade VHS tapes (remember those?) with other people across the country and meet on message boards to try and find the latest scoop on fighting, fitness training and gear.
Then came OTM. It was founded by two Brazilian jiu jitsu guys known in the fight world as "Scotty and Gumby" in the sunny Bay Area. Since its early creation tean years ago, On The Mat has arguably become the number one fight news and culture brand in the business. They recently opened a chain of OTM Fight Shops across the country.
Almost any fighter you know about was first seen on OTM fight DVD's and videos before you knew them. Here I talk with Alan "Gumby" Marques about the the business of the MMA and BJJ fight world.
AB: How did you first come to learn about jiu jitsu?
G: I ordered the very first UFC PPV event out of curiosity, and although I knew the importance of ground fighting from a limited amount of judo as a kid, I was blown away when I saw Royce Gracie march through the tournament. A few years later, when I was ready to pursue the martial arts again I was fortunate enough that Ralph Gracie, cousin to Royce and a famous fighter in own right opened up an academy a few blocks from my house. I signed up, fell in love with the art and the rest as they say is history.
AB: How did learning about jiu jitsu turn into the creation of OTM?
G: When you get into something as much as we did, you either have a desire to find out as much about it as you can, or share with others as much as you can. At the time Scotty and I created OTM, there weren't a lot (if any resources) for Jiu Jitsu out there and we felt that creating a webpage (which we knew a little something about), would be a good touchstone for getting some connections in the Jiu Jitsu community for ourselves, which right off the bat it did so amazingly well for us.
Fast forward to ten years to the present, and honestly one of the most gratifying things to hear is when someone tells me how much OTM has meant to them, how we've helped the sport and their own progress within it.
AB: When you began were sales good, or was it hard to keep alfloat?
G: I had a day job when we started OTM, so sales were not my first priority. Actually 10 years ago the Silicon Valley was booming and a lot of people seemed to have more money than they knew what to do with. I've never been in THAT category, but I was comfortable enough that I didn't need OTM to turn a profit right away. Around 2000/2001 work and opportunities began drying up in the Valley in a major way and I came to the realization that the little side hobby website we had created was technically generating more profits than any of the well funded companies I had been working for. So it made the choice of pursuing something I am truly passionate about a fairly easy one.
AB: What is your biggest selling DVD to date and why do you think it was so successful?
G: That would definitely be the 101 Submission series of DVDs and I think it was successful because it made our Jiu Jitsu accessible to everyone. While I LOVE watching Jiu Jitsu, many matches take a least a bit of prior knowledge and interest in the art to appreciate. The idea was to create a video that if someone asked you what Jiu Jitsu was, you could play this and get them excited regardless of their prior knowledge. At the same time, the material would also be interesting to people who were already well versed in the sport. I can't tell you how many times some one has told me that they've watched these videos dozens, if not hundreds of times and how they are proud to show it off to all their friends.
AB: Now you guys have fight shops set up across the country. Tell me about what people can expect when they go to an OT fight shop?
G: I guess it's a little unusual for a a virtual/web based business to move into a brick and mortar style retail shops, but with the explosion of MMA across the world, it actually makes a lot of sense to do so, and how better to do than the guys who've been at the party for ten years already?
AB: Will you guys still be doing the grappling DVD's ?
G: We'll have some new videos, for sure, but I think the market is moving away from DVDs now. This trend is true in the entertainment industry as a whole, videos on demand are going to become the norm. We are in the process of revamping our website to take advantage/be ahead of this trend, and will either offer the footage we shoot as an enticement for coming to the website, or offer some pay per view type options.
It's actually a little bit ironic, we started off putting videos on the web before anyone really did this, I'm speaking of the internet as a whole in this case. We were really the only source to able to watch a lot of these matches and see jiu jitsu, it's not like you were able to go to the store and even buy jiu jitsu matches. So by demand we began to make videos for sale (first VHS, to show you how long we've been in this). Now we're going to move back to emphasizing videos online.
AB: I know you think that the Bay Area is one of, if not the top places to train MMA or jiu jitsu. Why is that?
G: This area has a long history of attracting top talent in the martial arts, any martial arts you happen to have an interest in, there is a pioneer or leader in the field based out of the Bay Area. As far as the Jiu Jitsu and MMA scene goes, I think we were lucky enough to have a first generation here (Cesar Gracie, Claudio Franca and of course my own instructor Ralph Gracie) who set a high standard and produced a number of top notch students and competitors. More so there is a second generation of home grown talent now that adheres to those high standards and are proud of the fact they came from the bay area. There are equal measures of rivalry and respect in this area which makes everyone stronger I believe and I look forward to seeing the scene in the Bay Area continue to flourish.
AB: Whats next for OTM?
G: Keep checking www.OntheMat.com for all the latest!
AB: Whats next for Gumby? I know you just got your black belt from Ralph Gracie. Do you have any specific fight plans?
G: As far as fight plans, I plan to enter a few competitions per year as my schedule permits. I just love being out there. No plans on fighting in MMA however, I received my black from Ralph well over a year ago now, it ranks among the biggest accomplishments of my life and it meant a hell of a lot to get it from him . I tried not to give myself too much time to bask in the glow, after all I'm always trying to learn more, and share what I've gained over the years. Jiu Jitsu to me is a marathon, not a sprint after all!
FULL DISCLOSURE: I have known Gumby and Scotty since they trained with Ralph Gracie many years ago. I was a music director for some of their early DVD's. They have also sponsored my non-profit HHCF several times.
March 3, 2008
11:10 am | 1 recommendation | Be the first to comment
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Posted by Adisa Banjoko
Josh Waitzkin was going head to head with the worlds greatest chess minds at the age of 6. Today his a world champion tai chi master. His bestselling book, The Art of Learning covers the blending of chess and martial arts principles to empower your life. Many business folks love the book, so I interivewed him just for FC!!
AB: The Art of Learning is an amazing book about personal transformation. Why do you think so many in the business world find it so empowering?
JW: Interesting question--maybe because the ideas of the book emerge from the trenches as opposed to an armchair. One thing about the business and investing world that I connect to very intimately is that there is little room to deny the harsh realities of your mistakes. A bad call can lose you many millions. On the chess board, a single subtle error can cost you a world championship. In a martial arts ring you can go from domination to a broken limb or unconsciousness in a blink. So we have to keep it real, and that is something I have cultivated in my life and tried to do in my book. I didn’t gloss over the bad times, the broken bones, the brutal losses, the heartbreak, because frankly I believe those moments were the most defining of my life. From what I gather, people have found the authenticity of the book to be moving, and I take that as a great compliment.
AB: Many chess lovers believe the game enriches their business acumen. Do you see a correlation?
JW: Yes, I absolutely see a correlation. There are the obvious connections such as the interplay of tactical and strategic thinking, the need for internal balance in external chaos, the absolute necessity of presence, the ability to come back from defeat, and so on. But frankly I think these are ideas that are critical on the path to mastering any discipline. I tend not to dwell on the parallels between chess and business, chess and the martial arts, or any two things for that matter, because the truth is that all pursuits are connected if we gain an eye for the thematic links. A large part of my book is the plunge into principles of learning and performance psychology that cross the boundaries of specific disciplines. In my case I moved from chess to the martial arts—the mental to the physical. That is a good launching point for my thesis because from the outside these two arenas could not be more different.
A central idea of my book is that all life experiences can enrich our professional lives, and our work experience can inform everything else. We just have to break down the artificial barriers we have created in our minds, and then the learning process becomes exponentially more dynamic. A critical step in making that happen is to gain a thematic eye so we can get creative in the process of reconnection. That is the beauty of what we are doing with the Hip Hop Chess Federation. Who would have thought that world-class hip hop artists, chess players, and martial artists would have such common ground? But once the dialogue starts rolling, the walls disintegrate, and people come out inspired with a whole new perspective on learning.
AB: I know you speak to many business leaders across the nation. What do they seek to gain from sitting with you?
JW: I think, if anything, I have a knack for unhindering creativity. Too many students, workers, children, athletes, investors, people have been boxed into cookie cutter molds that just don’t fit. This is a central flaw in our educational system. In order to succeed at a high level you have to learn and perform in a manner that is tapped into your unique nuance of character. If there is anything inorganic about your growth process—if you’ve swept anything under the rug in your introspective process, if you haven’t built your game around your natural strengths—then it will come out when the pressure and resistance is fierce enough to push you to the brink. Guaranteed. On the other hand, if you address your weaknesses as a way of life, if you acknowledge your natural rhythms and build a highly personalized game around them, then when the pressure is on you just keep flowing.
One of the main focuses of my training sessions is to help individuals find their unique voices in the learning process. We all have our strengths, our weaknesses, our styles of learning, our personalities. Developing introspective sensitivity to these issues is critical to long-term success. And once we are hitting on all cylinders, we can have a healthy working relationship with our intuition and that is where things really get dynamic.
One of the most important chapters of my book is the second to last, where I describe my training for the 2004 World Championships. I break down how in the months of training camp, I used creative leaps to raise my technical foundation, and so over time my entire repertoire was built around my own inspiration. Then, when everything was on the line, a hostile arena in Taiwan, powerhouse fighters trying to tear my head off, refs who would do everything possible to stop a foreigner from winning—I had an internal compass that fit me like a glove.
Much of learning is unlearning bad habits. If I can help release people from self-imposed shackles, I’ll have done well. And as you know, I speak from experience on this one. My chess career ended with a crisis that largely emerged from losing touch with my natural voice and style as an artist.
AB: Is The Art of Learning a book for people aspiring to be CEO's and board members or is it made for the entry level worker?
JW: I’m not sure what the distinction is. The entry level worker becomes the CEO. The principles that drive us to the top only become more essential and difficult to live by once we are in positions of power. This brings up an important point. People often live with a certain spirit during the climb, and then get all locked up once they have something to protect. You see this in martial arts schools all the time. A so-called “master” trains for years to reach a certain level, and then opens a school. His students start putting him on a pedestal and he grows fearful about shattering the perfectionist façade…so he stops training, stops sparring, stops learning, and starts to embody the opposite of what gave him Quality in the first place. Is there any more horrible strategy than the prevent defense? If CEO’s stop taking themselves on, if they lose their beginner’s mind and get brittle in the learning process, then their businesses fall apart. I didn’t write this book with any one audience in mind, and from what I gather it is helping people at many levels of many fields.
AB: Much of your book looks at taking highly adverse situations to take yourself to the next level. Can you give us an example of that?
JW: Absolutely, that rhythm has been a defining one in my life—a setback plants a seed that evolves into a defining strength. For example, in late 2001 I entered the super heavyweight division of a regional martial arts tournament. I was the middleweight Tai Chi Chuan Push Hands National Champion, and had to defend my title in seven weeks. I was around 170 pounds and often gave up a lot of weight in competition for the extra training. One could argue that entering this tournament 7 weeks before Nationals was a bit hubristic and I wouldn’t disagree.
Anyway, in the finals I was matched up against a 230 pound powerhouse, and in a wild flurry with a little under a minute left in the final round, my right hand shattered. I felt it break, and then time slowed down in my mind. It was a wild experience. On the video his hands are coming at me like bullets, but in my mind they were floating like clouds. I was able to easily win the match with one hand—and the experience became a beacon in my training. If I can slow down time in my mind when injured, how can I learn to do this at will? In the years that followed, I developed a method of training that systematically altered my perception of time—nothing mystical here. I describe it in a chapter called “Slowing Down Time.” Anyone can do it—the process simply involves incrementally passing information from the conscious mind over to the unconscious so you can consciously focus on less and experience it in more frames than an opponent. Time feels slowed down which can be a tremendous competitive edge.
So that is one example of a setback inspiring me to new ideas, but there are many stories like this in my life. Just about every big win has its roots in a loss and lesson learned. My path has had nothing to do with perfection.
AB: Any last words?
JW: Yes, one thing. I’m in the process of opening up a nonprofit foundation, designed to help disadvantaged children, teens, and young adults get their footing in the learning process. I am tremendously passionate about the project. If anyone reading this works in or has connections to this field and believes the educational philosophy of my book The Art of Learning can make an impact on their group or school, please contact me on my website www.joshwaitzkin.com and I’ll do my best to help out with curriculum integration and by donating copies to teachers, families, and students. Thanks man. It’s been a pleasure.
10:44 am | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment
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Posted by Adisa Banjoko
Hip-Hop Chess Federation Teams with MMA Fighters Jake Sheilds and Ralek Gracie, RZA, Rakaa, IM Josh Waitzkin, for the “Mind Over Matter” Chess & Grappling Exhibition
HHCF brings together top entertainers and fighters to inspire today’s youth
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
San Jose, CA March 19th 2008– The Hip-Hop Chess Federation (HHCF) the world’s first non-profit fusing music, chess and martial arts to promote unity, strategy and nonviolence is proud to announce the Mind Over Matter Chess and Grappling Exhibition. Some of the biggest stars from the Hip-Hop, Chess and Martial Arts communities will gather for this one of a kind event.
Mind Over Matter will be held at the Riekes Center for Human Enhancement at 3455 Edison Way, in Menlo Park California on April 12th 2008 from 12 noon to 5 PM. Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA, chess icon and two time tai chi chuan world champion Josh Waitzkin, Rakaa of Dilated Peoples and Casual of Hieroglyphics . Other artists attending “Mind Over Matter” include The Jacka, Paris, T-K.A.S.H., Prince Ali, Director of “Straight Outta Hunters Point” Kevin Epps and many others.
“There is little more beautiful than the eyes of a child lighting up with inspiration, making new connections, falling in love with learning” said Josh Waitzkin. “Educators must take note of the rise of the HHCF. Adisa Banjoko is creating some of the most dynamic, innovative and empowering events for our youth- and “Mind Over Matter” will raise the bar once again. Blending chess, Hip-Hop and martial arts we are generating a dialogue about learning that begins with the love, embraces the unique flavor of each individual, and break down the divisive false constructs some have imposed on our culture, our schools, and our youth. I am honored to be part of this movement.”
“The HHCF’s Mind Over Matter chess and grappling exhibition is going to be a historic on several levels” said Adisa Banjoko, HHCF CEO. “There will be world class grapplers, chess masters and martial artists interweaving the highest aspects of these arts to improve the state of America’s youth. MC’s B-boys and B-girls, Graff writers and DJ’s and chess lovers from all over the planet are returning to the Bay to celebrate the union of these arts.”
In addition, RZA, Josh, and MMA Champion Ralek Gracie will host a panel entitled Martial Arts As A Path to Nonviolence. The panel will outline how students of chess and martial arts are trained to incorporate numerous options outside of violence.
HHCF Life Strategies panels are in high demand because of their intensity and philosophical depth. Previous panelists include San Quinn, Rakaa of Dilated Peoples, Josh Waitzkin, Dr. Daaim Shabazz of thechessdrum.net, RZA, DJ QBert, DJ Kevvy Kev, Balance, Immortal Technique and DLabrie from Hip-Hop Congress.
Additional events of the day will include, MMA Champion Jake Sheilds and No Gi World Champion Denny Prokopos of 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu SF hosting an exhibition to showcase some of today’s most effective grappling techniques. For more updates visit www.hiphpochess.blogspot.com !
Sponsors for Mind Over Matter include online chess community Chesspark.com, Ubisoft, Brazilian jiu jitsu news outlet Onthemat.com, Luna Bars and Hip-Hop Congress.
For more information or sponsorship opportunities please call (323) 335-4497 or email gaborski@shinkenpublicrelations.com.
Media Contact:
Me’ko Gaborski
(323) 335-4497
gaborski@shinkenpublicrelations.com
February 2, 2008
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Posted by Stephen L Rose
Over the past few weeks, it is possible you missed a few interesting announcements outside of the Microsoft/Yahoo venture. That was Microsoft‘s commitment to the Open Source movement (to be discussed in a later post) and Dreamspark.
Microsoft is giving away development and design software to university and high school students around the world through a program aimed at fostering technology innovation worldwide.
The software available to students through DreamSpark includes Microsoft's development environment, Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition, and its Web and graphic design toolset, the Expression Studio, XNA Game Studio 2.0 (for game developement), SQL Server Developer Edition, Windows Server Standard Edition and other software and resources through the program.
In the next six months Microsoft expects to extend the program to college students in Australia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Japan, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovakia and other countries. And in the third quarter, the software will be available to high school students.
So I received a lot of emails and comments saying “it’s about time Microsoft gave something back.” My response, you don’t know the half of it.
Over the past few years, I have been involved in a half dozen Microsoft and user group initiatives in Southern California alone. And, every one of these is completely free of charge. Here are a few examples:
· SoCal “Rock and Roll” Code Camp- Each year at Cal State Fullerton, Microsoft along with a dozen other companies sponsors a free Code Camp. Code Camp is a place for developers to come and learn from their peers. This community driven event has become an international trend where peer groups of all platforms, programming languages and disciplines band together to bring content to the community. This is two days of free seminars, tutorials, demos and classes taught by professionals and Microsoft employees and evangelists. The seminars are free and the speakers donate their time. That evening a dinner and live rock concert (hence the rock and roll portion) take place. This takes place every spring. Another in San Diego takes place the last week in June. Are there large seminars out there that people can attend? Sure. Big seminars have their place but don't have a wide spread reach... code camps and other "camp" events can fill the gap. For more information go to http://www.socalcodecamp.com/
· Digigirlz- Digigirls is aimed at 12-17 year old girls who are interested in learning more about a career in technology. Microsoft is hosting a day-long event on March 24th called Digigirlz Day. The event is a fun and interactive day with activities, demonstrations, labs and talks with women and girls who are already working in the technology industry. DigiGirlz days are being held across the world. For more info visit Digigirlz here: http://www.microsoft.com/about/diversity/programs/digigirlzday.mspx
· The Code Trip - What's a Code Trip? Think of it like Cannonball Run. Only slower, and geekier. The concept is to get out to the user groups, customers and influencers and meet with the people. Meet local talent and showcase new technologies. It’s a chance for folks to meet one on one with Microsoft specialists. Code Trip starts March 6th and ends April 15th after visiting over 28 cities. To learn more visit http://www.thecodetrip.com
This plus Microsoft’s support of local and national user groups, schools, the Product Red campaign, webcasts, product training. TechNet events, virtual machine labs, free online training, Partner Events, etc…
So, looking to learn more about the technical world around you? Need to increase your knowledge, technical savvy or your visibility? Find these many free resources and utilize them. With all the copies of Windows, Office, etc... you have bought over the years, isn't it time to reap some dividens?
Stephen is Sr. Partner and Network Architect with Odyssey Consulting Group and a Microsoft MVP in Connected Systems.
