Contrary Valley

The Transforming Power of Art

Before Oprah flogged James Frey on her TV show the other day about his untruths in "A Million Little Pieces," I was one of those who wondered if this was much ado about nothing. [Disclaimer: I have neither read the book nor watched her show.] I thought that if he was addicted to drugs since he was 8 or something, perhaps he was fuzzy on some of the details of his life.   

I feel differently now, and not because of watching Oprah or reading any of the well-known editorialists' opinions, but because of reading the letters to the editor in yesterday's New York Times.  Especially one by a Mary Taggart of Ottawa, who said in part:

Do people want a sensational story, a rags-to-riches story, an overnight-success story, love at first sight, a duckling to a swan, a frog prince — or do they want the truth?

The truth is that love at first sight is blind love, frogs are frogs, poverty breeds poverty, success takes years of hard work, and drug addiction is ugly and fueled by deceit.

The Times ran several pieces about this controversy in the 1/28/06 edition. To me one of the most fascinating is Edward Wyatt's piece, Questions for Others in Frey Scandal.

File Sharing, Lawyers and Common Sense

Alice Marshall at Presto Vivace's blog suggests that the global music industry should "quit spinning their legal wheels in litigation mud and adjust their business model" since their quest to end file sharing is just not all that effective.

Read the full post, aptly titled:

From the Dept. of You Can't Win a War with Your Customers

Thanks, Alice. I guess common sense is just not that common in some industries.

Search The Enron Emails

Robert Ambrogi points us to a site (Inboxer.com) where you can view thousands of internal emails sent by Enron staff.  He says that these emails "offe[r] the public a window into one of the most notorious corporate scandals of our times."  Of course Inboxer has a marketing angle, but this should be pretty interesting.

Enron Email is provided by InBoxer as a demonstration of its InBoxer Anti-Risk Appliance corporate compliance software. The site is even running a contest to find the most outrageous e-mails in three categories. 

As anyone who has ever worked in "corporate America" knows (or should know if they haven't been sleeping under their desks,) emails are forever.  There are a whole lot of reasons why you should think twice before pushing that "send" button, and they don't all have to do with trying to get away with something.  Basic email etiquette is just a good idea.   

The Art of Diplomacy

"The stronger one's real position, the less one needs to rub in the other side's discomfiture. It is rarely wise to inflame a setback with an insult. An important aspect of the art of diplomacy consists of doing what is necessary without producing extraneous motives for retaliation, leaving open the option of later cooperation."

from "Years of Upheaval" (1982) by Henry Kissinger. 

What Dubious Distinction is Shared by Saudi Arabia and Monaco?

Answer, from the Worldwide Guide to Women in Leadership:

Today the only two countries, which never had a female member of government in at least a sub-ministerial position, are Monaco and Saudi Arabia. In 1999, Sweden became the first country to have more female ministers than male. 11 women and 9 men.

Study - 7% of American Workers Drink On the Job

"Just over seven percent of American workers drink during with [sic] workday, mostly at lunch, and even more, nine percent, have nursed a hangover in the workplace, according to a study."

Read the rest of the article here.

Insights From a Woman CEO

"Nine Business Insights from Time CEO Ann Moore, Plus the Mix-and-Match Women" from the online newsletter Knowledge@Wharton [free site, registration required.]  Her numbers 5 and 6:

Five:  Power accrues to those who produce results. Profits matter. "I won the key to the corner office because, for more than a decade, I managed more than 50% of the profits Time makes," said Moore. "I created a lot of those profits. I launched more magazines than (Time founder) Henry Luce."

Six: "This may confuse you," Moore admitted, "but power isn't everything." Power means incredible sacrifice and constant trade-offs between work, spouse and family. She said she "paid a price for power, and I wonder how many women today will be willing to do the same." Moore has been married for 31 years and has a 21-year-old son in college. She heartily endorses a blend of work and home life, but warned, "Find your own balance and be happy."

Read all nine insights here.

Fix Your Site's Broken Windows

If you've read "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell, or "Broken Windows Broken Business" by Michael Levine, you've heard about the "broken windows" theory of social behavior. John Moore of Brand Autopsy riffs on both in a recent post (and saves readers' time by summarizing the latter book in about one paragraph.) Moore cites Gladwell's book about this theory:

Broken Windows was the brainchild of the criminologists James Q. Wilson and George Kelling. Wilson and Kelling argued that crime is the inevitable result of disorder. If a window is broken and left unrepaired, people walking by will conclude that no one cares and no one is in charge. Soon, more windows will be broken, and the sense of anarchy will spread from the building to the street on which it faces, sending a signal that anything goes.

According to Moore, "Levine's premise is that a broken window in business happens when someone isn't paying attention to details" and that "broken windows are telltale signs to customers that a business doesn't care, that it is poorly managed, and or it has become