Get The Sickness!

The Competitive Advantage of Networks

If you watch any television at all, you know that next to the "Ask your Doctor" category of ads, the wireless industry chimes in as one of the biggest advertisers. Simple math tells you that the greatest value of free "in network" calling is likely to be gained by signing up with one of the larger wireless carriers. This feature creates a built in bias to the advantage of larger carriers so the smaller networks need to compete on other criteria - like Leap & Virgin with no contracts or unlimited text messaging or T-Mobile with lower contract rates. Today's blog entry is not really about wireless but rather about the power of networks. Recently a group of San Diego business folks (and maybe a few artists and scientists as well) met at Cozymel's Mexican Restaurant in San Diego's Golden Triangle to do some serious networking. Maybe it wasn't that serious as there were lots of laughs and margaritas, but it was a serious effort by the folks who attended to meet some new people and have a good time. Based on the feedback, both of those objectives were achieved. I billed the event as a "Sickness" event targeted to people who believed that they could get better - professionally and/or socially. We had a fine band of folks who took a step outside of their day to day routine to be proactive about achieving that goal.

posted by Michael Sick @ 6:49 PM 0 comments

Patriots Fly September 11th

As I recently booked a trip to fly on September 11th, I got some interesting reactions from people. Would terrorists try to strike again on the five year anniversary of 9-11? Not likely, but if they are on my plane, I'm certainly not going to sit and do nothing and I suspect that my fellow passengers will also rise up to protect our personal freedoms. It occurred to me that we should celebrate the memory of the victims of 9-11 by traveling on that date. Remember them by exercising our right as a free people to travel when and where we desire. Wouldn't it be great if September 11th became one of the busiest travel days of the years as Americans took the opportunity to remember the victims of 9-11?

posted by Michael Sick @ 12:52 PM 0 comments

Iran's Competitive Strategy

Call me a cynic, but it appears that every time that the price of oil starts to decline, Iran manages to stir up some controversy that causes the markets to react. $10 per barrel times 4 million barrels a day provides $40 million per day in extra oil revenue for Iran alone. How many missiles and other arms can a couple of days of incremental oil revenue provide. Just the threat of an interruption in the oil supply can move the market. Just goes to show how many ways there are to compete in the marketplace.

posted by Michael Sick @ 5:54 PM 1 comments