Reply All

The reply all email can be quite handy...except when it is an accident. How about when it is a worldwide accident? (A friend) works for a local division of one of the largest ad agencies in the world. It operates 450 offices in 120 countries with approximately 18,000 employees.

I happened to be with (my friend) when a string of emails came through from around the world. 120 to be exact. All with the same subject line.

(The sender) wrote a one line email asking a colleague for someone’s contact information. And accidentally copied the entire company. All. Over. The. World. The first few responses came through as you’d think...

“Sorry, I don’t think I was supposed to be on this email”

But those people also hit reply all. They were in France. You get a few more emails from another country like this...

“Please do not hit reply all.”

Then you get the e-yellers...

“DO NOT HIT REPLY ALL! YOU ARE CLOGGING MY INBOX”

(yes, they hit reply all as well)

Then you get the person who starts having fun...

“Headed for coffee, anyone want some?”

Then you get the know-it-all, who literally takes the time to type step by step instructions on how to remove the shortcut email for the entire company list serve. Thanks for that productive move.

Now here is the moment of truth. This is an opportunity beyond belief - to build and strengthen a world wide culture. What would happen if this email just ran it's course? Imagine the CEO sends out a 30 second iPhone video in response to the email chain. Imagine the President of that particular office gives an award to the guy who made the mistake, and then every other division gives out that award to a person who makes an epic (non-damaging) mistake. Imagine this day becomes know as “reply all” day, or just think of how funny it will be in two weeks when someone opens the email and replies to everyone and restarts the fun.

But instead? *sigh* The following email from the desk of the messaging manager:

Hi

First of all let me apologise for the full inboxes you've experienced this morning from a bulk internal email. It was sent as a simple human error to you all. We've put filters in place to stop the delivery of these messages so things should now have calmed down for you.

Could I insist that you all refrain from replying to all should anything like this happen in the future? Replying to everyone asking people not to reply-to-all is only exacerbating the problem and completely counter-intuitive. Doing so puts a huge strain on our email servers and delays important client communications. Continued abuse will result in you being locked from (our company's) mail system.

Please report any future incident to you local IT department and they will escalate to the relevant parties.

Many thanks.

He said, she said: Rainy Days

Whenever I need inspiration or blog topics, I ask my friend Jenn Cole who blogs at www.noplacelikehere.biz. You should check her out.

Today, we decided to pick a topic - Rainy Days - and both write about the topic. Hence, the title he said, she said. Here is what she said.

Rainy Days confuse me.

You know what I have never been able to figure out? Why do I feel most productive on days it rains? It doesn't make sense. And back when I worked on-site with Beazer Homes, the rainiest days were some of our busiest days. I don't get it.

Also confusing - that song by Bob Dylan Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 . What? What the hell kind of song title is that? He sings about people being stoned which probably says alot about the choice.

You know what else confuses me about rainy days? Why do we keep telling brides that rain on your wedding day is good luck? Ha! Rain on your wedding day is miserable. Can't you just appreciate the fact you are getting married and enjoy it? Why perpetuate the lie? Do you need justification for being happy on your wedding day regardless of the weather? Good luck.

As I write this, I realize it is coming across a little angry. It is probably because Jenn just bought me coffee and I don't normally drink coffee in the afternoons. I feel a bit like Will Ferrell in Kicking and Screaming.

Okay - it stopped raining. So I will stop writing... it is not going well.

My Columbian New Year

Last week, we got to ring in the new year with some very special friends. We were visiting my hometown of Kingston, NY with 3 kids and 8 adults and stayed in a beautiful old farm house (part of the home was 200 years old).

One of our friends, Andrés, is originally from Columbia, where they have some very symbolic New Years Eve traditions. This is the first year he has not been in Columbia for New Years Eve so we wanted to help him feel a little more at home. Here is my experience:

Tradition 1. Wear yellow underwear. It is said to bring wealth and prosperity in the coming year. Well, I don't actually own any yellow underwear so I left it up to my friends to pick some up at the store while they were out shopping. Everyone had a good laugh when I opened the bag to find yellow Flash Gordon superhero briefs. Ha ha ha, joke's on me. The REAL funny part came when we all realized they bought the wrong size. I haven't fit in a 28 waste in two decades. But I tried...for the cause. And no, there are no pictures.

Tradition 2. JUMP! At the stroke of midnight, we were all standing on a chair (or couch) and we jumped down to the floor. This was to help us take on 2012 with momentum and energy.

Tradition 3. The suitcase run. After we jumped down and kissed our loved ones, we each grabbed a suitcase and ran around the outside of the house. This tradition ensures good travels in the coming year. Not sure if it meant anything significant but my wife and I held hands while we ran, hopefully that means we can go somewhere together.

Unfortunately we could not find any grapes with seeds because there is one more tradition we tried to uphold. But since we couldn't pull that one off, we substituted with a few American traditions...we drank Champagne and watched Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin Eve.

Nappy New Year!

Big City vs Small town

The big city. The bright lights. The big buildings. The masses of people from all nations moving briskly along city streets. Horns honking. Street performers. Festivals. Shows. Culture. It can be exhilarating and overwhelming. In a city like New York or LA or Chicago (or Beijing or Tokyo or Mexico City) it is hard to keep up. Hard to make your mark as an individual.

Many of my friends who live in big cities are always bragging about how much they love it. I heart NY.

Yet most people choose to operate within a couple blocks of where they live. They create their own small town within the big city. Because of the vast amount of choices, they self-limit their selections and revert to what is safe. What is close. What is convenient.

We have a global society that is expanding faster than ever before, and it is shrinking just as fast.

12 Predictions for 2012

My 12 Predictions for 2012 (in no particular order of importance or relevance)

1. Apple begins development of the iCar.

2. Facebook surpasses 1 billion users.

3. I will buy a new watch.

4. The US Mens basketball team will not win the gold medal at the Olympics.

5. Colin Powell will announce he is running for US President.

6. Someone from Kansas will win American Idol.

7. Tiger Woods wins the Masters.

8. Richard Branson will fly to the moon.

9. LSU will win the national championship in football and baseball.

10. HUGE breakthrough in contact lens technology. (think terminator movies)

11. US unemployment falls below 8%.

12. The world will not end on December 21, 2012. (sure hope I’m right about this one)

The Quiet Cube

My 3 year old daughter Emma needed to start her day in the quiet cube. The quiet cube is 3 foot x 3 foot x 3 foot wooden box lined with pillows in her daycare classroom. It is, for lack of a better a term, a safe zone. It allows the children to take a few minutes for themselves, to just simply have some quiet time. It is not for sleeping, and it is only large enough for one child so there is no tomfoolery. Emma had a big weekend - soccer, two birthday parties and lots of Christmas festivities- she had a case of the Mondays. She needed a few minutes to herself before tackling the week.

What I realized earlier this year is I needed a quiet cube too. Actually, I have two. We have one of the coolest offices in the Triangle at Go Realty but even that isn't enough to keep me energized some days. My first cube is a place called Cafe Helios. It is a local coffee shop in Downtown Raleigh that serves some of the best brew in town. This is where I go when I need people around but also need to be productive.

My second cube is the NC Museum of Art. This is when I need total quiet. It is one of the most serene settings in the area- think of a huge outdoor spa without the robes. It is close enough to stop for 15-20 minutes and just decompress. The phone stays in the car, computer stays closed and eyes remain open.

Don't put up with a case of the Mondays. Or Wednesday afternoons. Get a quiet cube.

When we need it...

Last night, I dropped my Macbook charger on my big toe. And it hurt. Alot. It still hurts. So I got to thinking..."With all this fancy technology, why don't we have a more advanced way to charge our devices? Why am I still carrying around this clunky charger?"

I asked this question to Jim Garman, and his answer was amazing. He said, "When we need it, Apple will give it to us."

Silence.

What a reputation to have! Apple has become known as the company delivering simple, beautiful, intuitive technology we didn't even know we needed, and now can't live without. I wonder what else I don't know I need?