David S. Finch

How a Magic Trick Works

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photo credit: Geoff Oliver Bugbee/Idea Festival/www.geoffbugbee.com

Last week at the Idea Festival I was like a little kid going to his first professional baseball game. However, it wasn't baseball, it was the lecture given by Teller of Penn and Teller. Since I was a small boy, I've always been intrigued by the art of magic. Not just the workings of a magic trick, but the art in which a magician communicates a story and creates a lasting memory.

I've never heard Teller speak (which most haven't), but I was completely engaged by his ability to tell a story as he outlined the workings, the art, the dedication and the grace on how a magic trick works. He spoke of the methods that fool the eyes and the art that fools the mind. Teller conveyed that in magic cause and effect are linked by poetry instead of physics. The job of the magician is to take this poetry and create memories.

Teller demonstrated the power of telling a story and by example kept each member of the audience anticipating every word. After nearly an hour of weaving a story of creativity, he concluded with this thought, " Nothing fools you better than the lie you tell yourself."

Teller by far was my favorite presentation this year at Idea Festival. It wasn't because of my love for magic, but his ability to tell a story, engage his audience, and take an idea, refine it, work it and with diligence pursue it until your able to get to the end results.

More Idea Festival Coverage:
1. The Rise and Fall of Hyperpowers
2. The Black Swan
3. Ninjutsu: The Art of Success

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Ninjutsu: The Art of Success

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Dr. Peter King, a ninja and retired London police officer lecture last week at the Idea Festival on Ninjutsu: The Art of Success. Peter King holds the rank Menkyo Shilhan (master instructor) in Togakure-ryu Ninjutsu and is recognized as one of the leading Ninjutsu instructors in the western world. He learned his craft from Hatsumi Masaaki.

Dr. King opened his lecture by explaining what isn't ninjutsu. He then said ninjas:

• Are like today's special forces.
• Were traditionally from the Iga region in Japan.
• Go back to the 6th century B.C.
• Were unusual for their time

Peter explained that one who masters ninjutsu, masters life. A perfect example is his teacher, Dr. Hatsumi, a painter, writer, actor, traditional medicine practioner, marital arts master.

He then outlined some of the principles of a ninja:

• self-protection and the prevention of danger
• protection of the body, mind and spirit.
• The way of the ninja is the way of enduring and surviving

King concluded with some of the teachings of Dr. Hatsumi:

• Hardship you endure is only temproary
• Always behave correctly
• Sorrow and hate are both part of life
• Never stray from the path of the spirit and the martial arts.
• Be ambitioius in the ways of the pen and sword.

While I'm not sure if I ever will make a ninja, the concept of mastering life seems like a goal I should pursue.

For additional Idea Festival coverage:
1. The Rise and Fall of Hyperpowers
2. The Black Swan

Image by: Ben Thomas

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The Black Swan

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This week at the Idea Festival in Louisville, KY, New York Times bestselling author Nassim Nicholas Teleb lectured from his book, The Black Swan. His books have more than a million copies in print and his writings have been translated into 27 languages. He has been described as a "giant of modern thought... now the hottest thinker in the world."

Nassim began his lecture by defining a black swan as an event that carries massive consequences and is extremely hard to predict. He shows that black swans historically can be said of the necktie to the computer and even the internet.

He believes that you cannot predict the future twenty and thirty years ahead, which goes against the grain of forcasters that love to predict events, economic futures, by mere numbers and spreadsheets. Nassim believes the resason why is because of "overcausation," looking at the results before the facts. Forecasting by theory will always get it wrong.

In conclusion, Nassim emphasized the need for experience instead of theories, rather than what's currently the common trend, theories over experience.

To learn more about Black Swans and enter in to the philosophical mind of N.N. Taleb check out his book, "The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable" (Nassim Nicholas Taleb)

More Idea Festival coverage:
1. The Rise and Fall of Hyperpowers

Image by: Ben Thomas

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The Missing Links: Your Weekend Reader

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10 iPhone Finance Apps That Count: "Managing your money shouldn’t get in the way of living your life. That’s why personal finance apps are such a natural fit for the iPhone. They let you track your stocks, convert currencies, calculate how much you owe, and track expenses—all on the go."

Social media myth debunked: consumers are NOT in control of your brand: "It seems that virtually every marketer under 40 has either already become an ‘expert’ or aspires to become one with respect to social media’s implications on brand perception, marketing communications, and customer service."

4 Secrets of the Successfully Self-Employed: "No matter how you make a living or who you think you work for, you only work for one person, yourself. Likewise, you only have 2 products to sell, your time and your knowledge."

15 Ways To Break Writer's Block: "If you are a writer, I'm sure you have faced situations when your mind seems to go blank and you just don't know what to write. Every writer or blogger, amateur or professional, encounters this situation every once in a while. This situation is termed as writer's block and if the writer is not able to get over it quickly, it could easily strip motivation and become very frustrating."

Blogging God Steve Pavlina Interview: On Motivation, Handling Email, Daily Routines, How He Got Started, and Much More: "One of the biggest and earliest blogging successes, especially in the field of personal development, was uber-blogger Steve Pavlina. Today I’m thrilled to share with you my interview with Steve on a variety of topics we’re both interested in — from motivation to passion to daily routines to staying positive and more."

image by: thorinside

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The Rise and Fall of Hyperpowers

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This afternoon at the Idea Festival in Louisville, KY, Amy Chua presented her thesis on, "The Rise and Fall of Hyperpowers." Amy, who is an author and professor at Yale Law School laid out the dynamics of the history of global superpowers.

Historically superpowers, whether it was the Persians, Romans, Chinese, British or even in modern times, they all have had one common thread that can be found in all of them. Their rise to power can be traced to a high level of tolerance. Amy defines tolerance as, "letting all types of people work, flourish and prosper in society." Attracting the best of the best talent in the process.

Sadly to say, each hyperpower's demise can also be traced as well. Ms. Chua has come to the conclusion, through her vast amounts of research and insight, that these hyperpowers begin to fail and decline when intolerance becomes accepted, especially in the area of ones ethnicity and religion.

She goes on to lay out the challenges that the United States has in front of them as it deals with the issues of being the world's current only hyperpower, especially when it comes to creating a common identity.

The wealth of knowledge that Amy provides obviously, supersedes what could be written here, but if your interested in global economics and politics make sure you go buy her book, "Day of Empire: How Hyperpowers Rise to Global Dominance--and Why They Fall"

image by: Ben Thomas

Technorati Tags: #IF2008, Idea Festival

Idea Festival 2008

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Beginning tomorrow I'll be attending and liveblogging the Idea Festival. OK, I know you maybe asking, "What is the Idea Festival?"

The Idea Festival:

"is a world-class event that attracts leading and highly diverse thinkers from across the nation and around the globe to explore and celebrate innovation, imagination and cutting-edge ideas.

The IdeaFestival is a unique non-linear program designed to stretch people's horizon's and promote breakthrough thinking... utilizing multiple venues to showcase, discuss and "connect" important ideas in science, the arts, design, business, film, technology, education, etc.

The Festival is designed to appeal to a broad cross-section of people - with presenters selected for their ideas, achievements, and their ability to communicate to a wide-ranging audience.

An important value of the IF is its accessibility. Strong support from sponsors allows the event to be priced at a level (with many events free) that provides for participation by a large diverse audience including students and young people."

The sessions I'll be liveblogging are:
1. The Rise and Fall of Hyperpowers - Amy Chua
2. The Black Swan - Nassim Nicholas Taleb
3. The Science and Wonder of Magic - Teller
4. Ninjutsu: The Art of Success - Peter King
5. The World in Your Pocket - John Gauntt

You can follow the liveblog on Twitter and then check back here for a synopsis of the events I'll be attending. Feel free to leave your comments, thoughts and ideas.

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The Missing Links: Your Weekend Reader

If you're new to davidsfinch.com, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed or receive free email updates. Thanks for visiting.

Podcasting is not Dead!: "First off, Podcasting is not like any other media form because while you can listen to a Podcast in many different ways (via subscription, directly in iTunes, downloading the MP3 file, listening to it right off a Blog, etc...), what makes a Podcast a "Podcast" is the the subscription (RSS) component."

Social Media Dashboard - "Bloomberg for Social Media: This morning started off thinking about Bloomberg’s wonderful but hideously expensive terminal, and how it gives you insight and also a dashboard to instantly know what’s going on in the markets. I thought, wouldn’t it be interesting to have a Bloomberg for social media? Sure enough, a platform exists to manage all your social media in one place, and that’s iGoogle."

5 Tips for Keeping Your Contacts Straight: "No matter what business you’re in, you need to know people. No matter how detailed your marketing or public relations plan is, there are times that you will need contacts who can help you promote your business. A reporter at the local newspaper or a blogger who covers your niche is a contact worth cultivating: these are the people who can help your company become a success."

Small Business Tip: Hold a Successful Event: "Holding an event is a risk and at the same time an opportunity. An event means you have to shell out money, and most often than not the success of such publicity depends on how much you can spend. To make sure your events are always fruitful, take heed of some of these tips."

The Bushido Code: The Eight Virtues of the Samurai: "Hideyoshi was driven by a burning desire to succeed as a samurai. But he differed from his contemporaries in seeking to overcome his adversaries peaceably, through negotiation and alliance building rather than through brute force. Lacking physical strength and fighting skills, he naturally chose to rely on wits rather than weapons, on strategy over swords. An unlikely samurai, indeed. Or was he?"

image by: gluemoon

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The Influence of GREAT Customer Service

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Let's face it, great customer service is really hard to come by. As a matter of fact, more often the general attitude of most businesses is that your here to serve them instead of them serving you. However, when you stumble across great service not only are you impressed, but you usually tell someone else.

Which is exactly what took place this morning. After dropping my wife off to work, I stopped to get a cup of coffee from the greatest coffee roasters, Jackson's Organic Coffee. I've never stopped by the store because I usually buy the roasted beans from a local market, but this morning I stopped since I was driving by anyway.

Here's how it went down.

I followed the line of cars to the rear of the building patiently waiting my turn. I thought as I was waiting in line how much different will the coffee taste from how I make it. When it was my turn, I pulled up to the window, quickly looked at the menu board, was about to order when I heard the worst news possible. "Sir, we don't take debit or credit cards." I proceeded to let the guy know that I wasn't carry cash and I'll just have to stop by another time. I told him Jackson's has become my favorite coffee and I'll get it another time.

This is how great customer service works!

His reply then switched to customer first... Don't worry about the coffee, its on the house this morning. Now, I don't know if this is common procedure, but it was this morning and I was impressed. Not only was I impressed, but I've already told about five people about it today. Will they buy Jackson's Organic Coffee? I don't know, but I know I will. Thanks guys for the coffee!!

Quick tip: If you're in the customer service business, think customer first. You never know who'll comment, blog or post a video about it.

LINK: Jackson's Organic Coffee

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The Missing Links: Your Weekend Reader

If you're new to davidsfinch.com, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed or receive free email updates. Thanks for visiting.

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How to Start a Local Support System Using Social Media: The first step to making real change happen in the real world using social media is a small one. To build a national real world network, you must first start by building a local one. To do this you need to tap into the power of your online network and use it to branch out. It only takes a few simple steps to make an active real world connection that starts online.

Execute on Being You: Way to many people are scared to be themselves……..all the way, don’t worry about what others say, listen and respect but don’t get away from what makes you happy and what you want to do and what you think you can do!

8 Startup Insights Inspired By The Mega Mind of Seth Godin: To do anything, you have to start. You can’t wait for the perfect situation. The perfect idea (which doesn’t exist), the perfect business plan, the perfect timing, the perfect market, the perfect investor, whatever. You need to get going.

Warren Buffett’s Ten Secrets to Wealth and Life: Warren Buffett is the richest man in the world, yet his reputation for frugality, folksy wisdom, and straight talk make him seem like just a regular guy, like he might be the billionaire next door.

Best Video Conferencing Tools That Anyone Can Use - Sharewood Guide: Video conferencing tools allow you to use your standard webcam and broadband Internet connection to have multi-party videoconferences. Once reserved only to high-end and very costly proprietary hardware systems, videoconferencing tools and services have sharply grown in number and they now offer multiple useful alternatives that you can start using without having to spend a dollar.

The Gentleman’s Guide to the Calling Card: In the 19th and early 20th century, social interaction was a richly cultivated, well-mannered affair. The tool that facilitated these interactions was the calling card. Calling cards streamlined introductions and helped remind people of new acquaintances and needed visits. The calling card also served as a way to brand your social identity.

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Your Weekend Reader: Early Edition

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Are You Marketing Confidently?: How confident is your marketing? Are you the enterprising person that boldly tells people you have something they need? Do you jump up and tell the world your business is great?

Learn from the Greats: 7 Writing Habits of Amazing Writers: I love reading about my favorite writers and what writing habits led to their success. Below, I share with you some of my favorite writers’ work habits … and it’s obvious that there’s no single way to success. Some like to write a certain number of words or pages every day, others were happy to write a page or a sentence. Some liked to write long-hand, others did it on index cards. Some wrote standing up, others lying down. There’s no one way that works. Do what works for you. But maybe you’ll get some inspiration from these greats, as I have.

10 Skills You Must Develop To Succeed In Any Business: Although every business requires a specific skill set and related domain knowledge, there are some general qualities which you must develop if you want to get going in any business. I say 'develop' and not 'have' because I don't think these skills are rocket science and if you've got the willingness, you can easily develop them and carry on your business in a better manner.

51 uses for Coca-Cola – the ultimate list.: I was trawling the Internet recently searching for a way to remove a grease spot from a favorite shirt of mine. How it got there, well, I blame a faulty fork and not my clumsy mouth. Anyway, time and again sites would reference a can of Coca-Cola as a way to remove the grease spot. I tried it, cynical but hopeful, and it worked. Not 100%, but it was way better than before. It did leave me wondering, are there other uses for Coca-Cola? It turns out there are a lot more.

10 Things to Remember When Promoting your Business: For business owners, marketing and promoting your business is something you will (or should do) year round and not only when times are tough. So it is good to keep in mind some key things to remember to help you when you are promoting your business on and off the internet.

image by: yogi

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