Winter Lessons

ellwood6 — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 19:50:04 +0000

The year was 1977. We had moved from Southern Italy to Rome, New York. We were towards the end of a winter season that had walloped the area north of Rome were we lived with over 200 inches of snow. With a wicked sense of humor, knowing we were sick of shoveling snow, we were hit with an ice storm. Now me, my older brother James and my father stood at the mouth of our driveway staring at a driveway covered with two and a half inches of solid ice. We began the slow and arduous task of breaking up sections with a spade and flat hoe and then shoveling the heavy ice to the side. The temperature already in the twenties began to drop through the teens. More than an hour passed and we were just over a quarter of the way through. As my feet became numb from the cold and my fingers became wet, cold and stiff I continued to glance at my father waiting from any sign we would stop soon and go into the warm house. Nothing doing. He kept working with the same drive and determination that took him up and down the rows of the tobacco farm where he was raised to the suburbs of our lake community. My mother appeared at the front door and alerted us to the fact dinner was ready. I dropped the shovel where I stood and began to walk towards the house. “Where are you going,” my father asked. “We are not done!” he said and then added: “We don’t stop until the job is complete.” I reluctantly picked the shovel up and returned to the task. Thankfully, I don’t remember much about the rest of the day. We finished the driveway. I almost froze. I couldn’t feel my feet and I’ve never been prouder of anything I’d done to date than I was looking at the wet expanse of clear asphalt. I’ve never forgotten the lesson I learned that winter from my father. It has come in handy many times as I’ve gritted my way through lives trials. Now as I look at the economic news in the lobby of the Marriott Renaissance waiting for my meetings with executives from General Motors busy fighting to keep their company above ground; I have only one thing to say: Don’t stop, your not done.

Innovators Innovate

ellwood6 — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 13:57:35 +0000

There seems to be a lot of fear, whining and gnashing of teeth about the current economy. But last time I looked at the separation of duties chart, we marketing and advertising types are slotted in the “think our way out of trouble” area. And there is no time like the present. Adversity presents opportunity. Scotch tape was invented the Great Depression as was the Soap Opera. Newspapers and Radio became established and grew during that time. We sure as hell have a problem but we also have a lot of raw materials with the internet, smart phones, etc… The winners in this economy are going to be those with the best ideas.

The Idea Machine

Winter Lessons

Innovators Innovate