A couple of interesting points that resonated with me – either way you look at these idea’s are not just for the business world but about how to live life:

1. Startup = Experiment. Essentially it all begins by the quality of our imagination.

2. Experiment = What are we trying to learn about people? …if curiosity infected everyone

3. The keeping things lean methodology = Build. Measure. Learn. >> Then repeat

4. There are cycles and patterns to business and to life. Train your intuition to get better recognizing this over time.

5. Iteration = Pivot. One in the same, but Pivot has become the new buzz word. There are different types of Pivots that go far and wide.

6. By pivoting a lean startup can come to understand what a ‘Minimum Viable Product’ looks like

7. Pivoting takes leaving your emotions on the side-line.

Overall – the talk came to a close and besides wanting to read the book, what I heard wasn’t entirely new. It put a methodology: Iteration is a lifestyle for Lean.

Your family and university are supposed to put you on the right track, right? They are part of the equation, but it’s really the power of one.

Like driftwood..there is a journey that you create. And all of the possibilities should come from the gut. You sometimes you don’t know what that is going to be. It’s okay.

Believe in the drift. Believe in yourself.

1. Snap and pay. Mobile banking – first seen in Kenya. Snap and pay will bring mobile banking to the Western world. An app like Danske bank created where you can take a photo of your bill and then pay is hot.

2. More life brought to inanimate objects like your plant txting you know it needs to be watered. Why can’t your milk let you know when it’s turning?

3. Doing more with less (because pockets are being crunched everywhere). It’s a better phrase for the reduce, reuse, recycle movement. Grow your own, make your own stuff.

4. Smarter everything. Not just in mobile and home energy monitors. More smart on the horizon…TV and other appliances, smart footwear, cars are getting smarter but could they go on autopilot?…etc. Helps you automate and save in the best ways.

5. Geo-behavioural-targeting to the 8th power. It’s almost going to freak people out if they want it too. For the lovers of Clicktale and data it’s going to be a blessing.

May the trend-oid be with you!

This year I just happened to stumble upon a book in my reception of my residence, just sitting waiting to be scooped up as a freebie. A book written and signed by Tony Hsieh – Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose.

I opened the front page and it was also signed – Live in the Wow! – Tony

The book documented Tony’s journey from young professional stepping out into the real world to CEO of Zappos.com, a very successful U.S. e-tailer. It was almost as if I was supposed to pick up the book that day and strangely enough at a time when I was looking for not just a good, but brilliant example of companies making a difference.

You see, my passion in life has been all about delivering service in order to make a difference. Zappos has a core value – Deliver WOW through service.  This could be my service unto others (giving when you don’t necessarily receive anything back) through to uplifting the entire customer experience for any role I am in. Most organisations like to call it Marketing and Customer Service but the combination is where I sit and that is where Customer Experience Management is born.

It certainly didn’t take me long to finish the book. Flipping the pages made me realise Tony’s life has followed a similar journey to mine. Purpose and progress are important to your happiness and wellbeing. Not just for your career but who you are and want to become. And this helps you live in the WOW!

Everyone has there own version of WOW, whether it means jumping out of a plane, presenting in front of a 100 people, knitting a new scarf, or simply making more people smile than you ever have before.

So live 2012 in whatever WOW you want to make of it. And don’t forget to keep living in the WOW you should be giving WOW.

I know that 2011 was a bumpy one for many. Remember even in times of struggle, when the last thing you want to do is WOW yourself. Reach out to the ones that care for you the most – because they will have the know-how to put you back on course.

Lisa’s legacy lives on and reminds me that we should be doing the best we can in order to bring the best out of others – the true currency of meaning in my book.

Thank You Lisa.

Great quotes of the day. This is all about having the right mindset and being yourself in order to activate small steps towards success.

• People will start dancing to your own music and they won’t know why.
• How solid is your foundation? Your roots need to be strong.
• You deserve what other are getting in terms of success. Have a ‘me-too’ attitude.
• If you try to swing the pendulum too much – chances are your not going to do it.
• Think about sacrificing a season in order to go the extra mile
• Don’t tell people everything until they see anything

So I am going to continue dancing (but to a different tune) and saying “me-too” more.

So simple but effective.

Transport: Metro, walking, metro, and possibly taxi

A recommended itinerary from my trip to Paris last mid-May.

• Notre Dame Cathedral
• Eiffel Tower
• River Cruise on the Seine starting from Eiffel Tower
• Champs Elysees starting from Clemenceau to Arc de Triomphe
• Montmatre area starting at the top of the hill with Basilica Sacre-Coeur and then meandering through the side streets down to the Moulin Rouge

Some pointers and fun things you may find en-route

Walking down the Champs Elysees stop at Laduree to try world famous macaroons. I also recommend the hot chocolate!

Don’t miss the Place du Tertre in Montmatre to find an artist colony of watercolor, portrait sketchers, and caricaturists

Even on a nice summer day the Seine can get a bit windy – just remember when hopping on board the boat cruise

Grap a crepe at one of the many stalls in Montmatre area

Lonely planet has a good walking tour of Montmatre where you can see a small working vineyard, where Vincent Van Gogh lived, and a windmill >>>Or this lovely tour company

This is the challenge then: 365 daily itineraries. 365 days – the whiz-bang, the romantic, the trendy, the posh, the fun-filled – for 365 places.

The Tribute: I owe my enthusiasm for travel to Mom. So this goes out to her. Plus I must feature Mickey Mouse in one of my entries…she certainly understands the joy that Mickey brings.

It’s been bugging me a bit more lately how the meaning behind these two words is diminishing. They way I see a meaningful ‘Thank You’ – it should be memorable, provide that lil warm feeling inside, and make you want to say it more – at the right times. Recently, when I connected some new friends moving to Capetown with an old flatmate of mine who moved back a couple years ago. I thought it would be a nice gesture to connect them and they got in touch straight away. Not even 24 hours later they were hanging out and seeing the sites with her. A really nice feel good email came across from each of them – through their words I could see the excitement and comfort knowing they made a good match.

One of the best ‘Thank You’s was from my friend Kathy N. in High School – kind of came out of the blue one day and it really gave me the warm, fuzzy feeling:

….so if there was an award I can give you for having the biggest heart and the energy you create when we hang out I would totally give it to you. But I don’t know of one so I am dubbing you the ‘Mother Theresa of Friends – aka Mutha Chaiks’ heheheheh, corny but that is the way I thought of it. So have a great time tonight and thanks for being such a great friend and an overall awesome person.

On that note – This year’s big up is to random acts of thank you, but like ya mean it! I like the way you can surprise and delight through a meaningful thank you. So 2011 will be catching some people by surprise.

“And that’s why 2010 gets to be thanked. It marked an important moment of no return. No more floundering. No more waiting for someone else to show the way. No more imagining that surely everything will be alright eventually. It will be, of course, but because I will make it so. I fear it sounds like I swallowed a self-help book, but I’m grateful for being able to recognize that we have one life, so best start living it sharpish. Yes, bills need to be paid and responsibilities have to be faced. But no more of the hamster wheel. The viable economy of all our futures will be built on the passion and talent of individuals. Time to put up and shut up. Bring it, 2011.”

My 2010 re-cap coming shortly…