My New Sneaks

These were my new sneaks for like two hours. 

I loved them in the store. 

My stylish and lovely daughter helped me pick them out. 

Nike bright orange–cool, fashionable. 

“Just do it!”

But when I tried them on, I didn’t have socks, and had to use the ridiculous thin ones in the store.

The sneakers were snug and I asked for a larger size, which they were out of. 

I took the sneakers anyway, hoping they would be okay when I got home, but disappointingly, they were way too tight. 

And “the give” that the saleslady said would happen with the sneakers, absolutely didn’t. 

My foot was being crushed in there. 

I think Nike’s run small. 

Like the look, but not the sizing. 

Anyway, saw three people playing soccer in these (or something close to it) the same day. 

Orange is the new black. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Contrarian on Apple

As Apple approaches the unbelievable $1 trillion mark in market value, I am going the contrarian. 

Historically, I love Apple products–truly. 

But since Steve Jobs, Apple has done virtually nothing!

They are losing the battle for common sense priced products. 

They are losing the battle on innovation. 

Think for a second what has Apple come out with that is “WOW” in the last few years–either in terms of new product or design. 

Do you care anything about Siri?

Are you in love with their Apple Watch? 

Do you think much of their new iPhone X?

What about the computers–same old, same old?

I am still using the iPhone 7plus and have no intention to upgrade anytime soon. 

See the picture above, this is Apple’s idea of innovation. 

It’s the new Mac Pro — virtually the same as their iMac Pro, as their store rep explained to me–except it’s shaped like a tall and weird version of the Amazon Alexa personal assistant. 

BTW, you still need to attach a monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc. 

Are you impressed NOT? 

Apple as a brand used to mean the latest and greatest. 

Even now, I am still drawn to Apple products, just because I am conditioned to think of it as the best!

But is it still the best and is it worth the premium price?

Apple still has me as a customer and I am still a big fan of what they have done in the past.

But they better do something amazing again and now, because I think their stock is in for a mighty big and painful tumble if we don’t see the old Apple again soon. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Gucci Shoes WOW!

So we’re down in Florida.

It’s pouring today, so we decide to go to Sawgrass Mills Mall.

When the rain let’s up, we decide to go outside to this one row of stores that is like designer row.

We went into Robert Graham, Ralph Lauren (the purple label), Roberto Cavalli, Versace, Gucci, and more.

We saw this nice Chasidic couple in Gucci.

He looked at me and me and him–he was buying his wife a gift and I was “window shopping” and taking some cool photos.

We gave each other the thumbs up.

The shoe here was from the Gucci store.

Pretty incredible, no?

It’s definitely a brand standout!

Nice job Gucci designers. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

The Kool-Aid Overfloweth

So I am a little concerned with this election.

As the promises are made…

As glass ceilings are broken for gender and outsiders…

As the endorsements are coming in…

As legacies are made and lost…

Everybody seems to be drinking a lot of Kool-Aid.

Somehow, the (social) media doesn’t seem as discerning as it should or could be. 

Maybe it’s more about brands, what outrageous, who’s insulted, ratings and advertising dollars.

Many (or almost all unless they have personal skin in the game) seem resigned to just vote for the candidate they deem least worst.

Accountability for actions and words–scripted and blurted out–don’t seem to be taken with the seriousness they deserve. 

Just say or do whatever it takes…shake hands, kiss babies, promise more of everything for everybody.

Wash it all away with the insincerity of the moment for the prize of the ultimate power grab awaits. 

The new leader of the free world will be sitting in the Oval Office in just a little more than half a year.

Kool-Aid is filling our screens, our newspapers, our conversations, and our minds.

What’s real and what’s bullsh*t about what we’re being fed?

Transparency, ha…feeding time is almost over. 

But where’s the real vetting, critical thinking, and values informing the process?

It’s not about what to think, but how to think!

Bellies are almost full…the herd is almost ready to vote.

The new King of the Jungle is almost ready to take their place at the head of it all.

Four years, maybe eight years…

How will the wild world be then? 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Hate Ties, But Love These

I hate neck ties in general, but love these specifically.  

If you have to wear a tie, these strong gorgeous silk ones called Quindici by Ermenegildo Zegna are absolutely beautiful. 

At a retail price of $285 each at Nordstrom’s, they are not cheap, but what a powerful and confident accent for any formal outfit. 

These are all for me! 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Not Your B*tch

Another story from a friend of a friend in the office.

A person has someone working for them who hasn’t been working out all that well. 

Basically, the staff person is having challenges simply getting their job done. 

The boss asks what the problem is and if there is anything they can do to help the person be successful. 

The staff person blurts out to their boss that “Nothing is wrong–I just don’t want anyone to say I’m your b*tch!”

For all the possible reasons for not doing your job this one was quite a shocking one. 

Sure people have challenges–not everyone is good at everything and it’s not always a right fit, but being worried about what other people think about your doing your job…uh, not a very good excuse. 

Seems like something the boss is not going to be able to really fix…maybe a shrink. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Try That On!

So we took my daughter to the Free People boutique store at the Mall. 

That brand has such a cool clothing style (although a little pricey)–everything is sort of hippyish, natural, eloquent, cool grunge, and feminine with lace, beads, frills, ruffles, and more. 

As we went through the store, we noticed the amazing fitting rooms with heavy tapestry-type curtains and these beautiful flowers hanging plentifully from the ceiling–ushering you to try out their clothes. 

My daughter ended up getting a nice bag there, but the clothing also looks amazing and fits perfectly with her fashion sense. 

It was interesting for me to learn that Free People was started by the same couple in the 1970’s that founded Urban Outfitters. 

Two retail success stories–but Free People is not only the cooler name, but the better clothing line. 

Be Free People!  😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Govgeddon Is Not An Option

Interesting article in the Wall Street Journal about how the Federal government is falling to attract young people.

“Employees under the age of 30 hit an eight-year low of 7% in 2013…[while back in 1975, more than 20% of the federal workforce was under 30.”

Conversely, 45% of the federal workforce is older than 50.

Moreover by September 2016, a quarter of the all federal employees will be eligible to retire–that the retirement wave we’ve been hearing about for years, but never seems to really come (because of the economy).

Without “a pipeline of young talent, the government risks falling behind in an increasingly digital world.”

It’s not the older people can’t learn the technology, but rather they aren’t digital natives as those born in the later part of the 20th century.

To see just a glimpse of the digital divide, you need to go no further than when many of these folks snicker at us for even just sending emails–something so uncouth to the younger crowd.

With years of salary freezes, no awards, benefit cuts especially for new hires, and shutdowns, the federal government which used to be “an employee of choice,” is “now an employee of last resort.”

Further, “the reputation for bureaucracy and hierarchy is driving away many workers.” People want to be productive and get things done, not spin their wheels.

Yet, the government offers so many exciting jobs performing critical missions in everything from national security, diplomacy, law enforcement, and so much more, it is ironic that we cannot attract young people, who are often the most idealist.

Diversity in the federal workforce means that people under 30 are not a rarity!

Everyone–no matter what age, sex, race, religion, and so one–provides an important contribution, so that the sum of the parts is greater than the whole.

We need people to clearly feel the honor in public service, to see the importance of the missions performed, and to be treated like valued workers and not political pawns in partisan showdowns and Washington shutdowns.

Let’s actively recruit with an attractive smorgasbord of enhanced salary and benefits, especially in critical fields like cyber security, information technology, biotechnology, aerospace engineering, and more.

It’s time for the federal government to become attractive for young (and older) workers again, and not apologetic for providing important jobs in service of the nation.

The federal government needs to compete for the best and brightest and not resign itslef to second-tier, ever.

Our young people are an important pipeline for fresh ideas and cutting-edge skills, and we need them to prevent a govgeddon where we can’t perform or compete with the skills and diversity of workforce that we must have. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Sears Couldn’t Sell An Appliance Let Alone A Rolex

So I was amazed at the depths to which Sears will go to try to save their horrible brand.

The Wall Street Journal (21 July 2013) described how Sears online has started a marketplace where they are now hosting the selling of high-end goods at their low-end department store site.

Sears which normally sells kitchen appliances, tools, and crappy clothing is now trying to market $33,000 Rolex watches and $4,400 Chanel handbags.

Good luck to that after their failed 2005 merger of Sears and Kmart–as if combining two lousy companies make one good one.

Since 2005, the company revenue has steadily declined about 25% from $53 billion to $39.9 billion and they lost $4 billion in 2011-2012. Yeah, that today’s Sears!

My own horrible experience with Sears:

I went online to order a range, and Sears botched the order over and over again and kept me holding endlessly throughout the miserable process and at each stage asking for my feedback and apparently doing nothing with it.

Problem #1: It started out pretty simply–I asked for some guidance comparing a couple of models, chose one, and they entered my order. However, when I looked over the order, they had entered the incorrect delivery date–when I wasn’t available. So I contacted Sears back to correct the mistake, but they couldn’t get their system to reflect the correct date–it would only show the original incorrect date–and this is a multi-billion dollar company? But I shut an eye when a supervisor finally assures me that it will arrive on the correct date.

Problem #2: The next day or so, I get a call from a Sears customer service representative who asks me whether I am the Andy located in XYZ (some G-d forsaken location)–ah, no! Well, they explain that’s where they have my order shipping to. They can’t explain how that happened, but promise Sears will fix it.

Problem #3: This time, I get a call from the Sear’s installation company. They are demanding that they will not come out to do the install unless I pay them a required inspection fee. But I explain that my order from Sear expressly states that shipping and installation are FREE. Sorry, they tell me free is not free, and if I have a problem, here’s a number to their national whatever line.

Three strikes, Sears is out–I contact them to review what had happened and to cancel this order. They refuse to cancel it–again, I think to myself this is a multi-billion dollar company? Over and over again this goes on, until finally they agree to cancel the order and refund my money.

All this nonsense literally wasted hours of my time.

Sears is no longer that brilliant mail order catalog of the early 20th century; now they are a dumpster diving junk company trying to sell brand stuff, but they are laggards to the brilliant Amazon and eBay retailers–and soon Sears will be out of business headed to the big retail trash bin of history.

The Rolex watches and Chanel bags are just another Sears circus sideshow. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Who hasn’t Been There?

So I was teaching a course this week in enterprise architecture, and some of the students asked about EA having a bad rap and brand (i.e. that it seems to not work so well in many organizations) and why is that?

We had a pretty robust discussion around this–why some organizations fail and others succeed with EA.

We discussed the critical success factors that as the CIO or Chief Architect you can impact, and how these can drive planning and implementation for the organization to succeed.

At the same time, we also acknowledged how–to be frank–not everything is in our control.

This was a class full of CIOs and Vice Presidents, and I gave an example and said you are all successful now in your jobs and careers, but raise your hand if you haven’t been there–where you were on the outs and you boss or colleagues just didn’t like you?

This was a class of about 20 people, and out of all these highly achieved folks, only one hand went up–a young kid–with only 3 or 4 years out of school, and still learning the ropes.

Yes, this one person had not yet been on the losing end, but everyone else–all these successful people had been–ALL of them!

The point is not to say that success is just a chance event–it isn’t!

You have to work hard and try your best– but no matter how much you think of yourself–it’s even more important to remember that you don’t control all the factors of your life that determine whether you succeed or fail.

The same people that now had big, successful jobs, were the same people who had in a prior job or time been the person who could do no right at work.

I tell myself to remember that there is personality, chemistry and fit at work; there is timing–and it is everything!–and there is how the stars are aligned.

It helps a lot to be humble and learn, grow, work hard, never give up, have fun–and have faith in a mightier power above.

From what I’ve seen, life is a cycle and today you may be down, but tomorrow you will be up (and the opposite is true too–so don’t kick the person that is down and hurting).

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heavens.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1)–for everything and for everyone. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)