TOGO To Go!

Late-night DMs with a Self-Proclaimed Twitter Newbie

admin@togo-media.com — 2011-09-05T01:34:10-04:00

Wrapping up my digital ablutions one recent evening, I received the following direct message from a self-proclaimed Twitter newbie.

{New to Twitter} (Handle omitted)
I'm fairly new to Twitter and am trying to figure out the benefit of tweeting every few minutes. Help me out? 12most.com/2011/08/31/12-…
31 Aug at 21:48

I didn’t think much of it and was about to move on from the myriad static that nightly fills my inbox when I was struck by what probably should have been immediately obvious… The reference to tweeting every few minutes was apparently directed at me?!

Needless to say—immediately and irrevocably energized—I had to, at the very least, see who had ventured to, so impudently, tread on my insanity.

Indeed, my newfound “friend” was, by all appearances, new to twitter.

87
Tweets

25
Following

21
Followers

2
Listed

And so, in a tweaked, all night coding-like theta-state with best intentions, my reply began…

To the Crazy Ones and Other Flights by Steve Jobs

admin@togo-media.com — 2011-08-25T10:02:31-04:00

“To The Crazy Ones” by Steve Jobs

Here's to the crazy ones.

The misfits. The rebels.
The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.

They're not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo.

You can praise them, disagree with them,
quote them, disbelieve them,
glorify them or vilify them.
About the only thing you can't do
is ignore them.

Because they change things.
They invent. They imagine. They heal.
They explore. They create. They inspire.

They push the human race forward.

Maybe they have to be crazy.
How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art?
Or sit in silence and hear a song that's never been written?
Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?

We believe in these kinds of people.
While some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.

Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can
change the world,
are the ones who do.

Disruptive Technology Does Not Fly in the Classroom

admin@togo-media.com — 2011-08-24T10:22:44-04:00

Classroom Learning: What to Expect this Decade?

Given the biological evolutionary timescale, The way we learn is unlikely to change very much in 10 years. I'm not trying to be facetious but believe we should keep this in mind as we look to improve (read: “change”) the educational experience of our children.

That said, how we teach is certain to evolve in a significantly shorter period. Even so, while the last century has seen significant changes in the way we educate our children, the similarities between most modern classrooms and one from the days of the Puritans are immediately identifiable. Clearly, however, there have been some important changes.

Changes in the classroom have historically evolved from changes in technology and/or changes in our understanding of how people actually learn. The steady disappearance, in the 1950s, of "hands-on" lab work resulting from the widespread adoption of photography in textbooks is an example of a technological impact. About a decade later, a movement to bring hands-on, physical experience back to the classroom was driven, at least in part, by changes in our understanding of the Human brain and how it functions—the beginnings of left-right brain and "multiple-intelligence" research.

Schools are generally (with some notable exceptions) very slow to adopt and adapt. The result of a number of factors such as budget, logistics (numbers), governance and forces of habit, the way schools teach tends to evolve more slowly than most other organizations. While myriad attempts continue to be made to measure the quality of a teacher, the bottom line is that most of us (including those charged with school governance) generally make judgments based on personal experience—experience that dates back to our own schooling.

As a side, we all seem to appreciate the qualities of uniquely gifted teachers. The movie industry seems uncannily adept at creating these characters. We recognize them; celebrate them; even respect them. Movies such as “Mr. Holland’s Opus” and “Dead Poets Society” tempt our passion for learning and yet, almost without exception, in some sick reverence to our puritan interests, devastate these unique protagonists. In fact, it is rare to find any movie in which an educator—gifted by passion for teaching—does not die or is fired...

So you want to be a speaker?

admin@togo-media.com — 2011-08-23T20:06:08-04:00

A young woman, Karen, recently asked how she might begin a speaking career. While she had, through her own personal experiences, become an expert on the Feldenkrais Method—a movement based somatic educational system—questions such as what to speak about and how to market herself remained. Ultimately, she wondered what she would say.

I offered the following from my own experience...

Karen, congratulations! I wish you the best in your new (ad)venture. Your years of experience working with children and the Feldenkrais Method clearly offer you a valuable, unique perspective. While I’m unfamiliar with the Feldenkrais Method, its reminds me of the Alexander Technique.

Years ago, I worked with a young mother as she prepared to reenter academia as a medical student. Unable to afford the support she needed, she offered to barter—one hour of tutoring for one hour of Alexander Technique. Needless to say (at least to those who know me), knowing nothing whatsoever of the Alexander Technique, I jumped at the opportunity. I’m glad you’ve jumped at yours.

With so many professional and, no doubt, master speakers offering such valuable guidance throughout myriad online communities, I hesitate to speak up—then, speaking up is what I’ve always done...

So, what do YOU want to say?

The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place...

admin@togo-media.com — 2011-08-19T01:32:39-04:00

"The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place." ~George Bernard Shaw

Too often, innovation is starved right "on location" by a failure to communicate an inspiration. A disturbingly prevalent and even more endemic manifestation of our current communication culture is its seeming failure to exploit new and valuable opportunities to connect, in person, with those around us—to innovate with them...

Whatever Happened to Snack Anyway?

admin@togo-media.com — 2011-08-18T23:34:14-04:00

I can remember looking forward to snack time in elementary school. So clear, in fact, is my recollection that just the hint of certain childhood staples gently wafting over the wall of a neighbor's cube quickly bring me back to that good place. These days, even a single flavor-blasted fishy evokes a positive physiological response. I live in fear of a chance odoriferous encounter with a cream-filled Hostess cupcake...

On ROI and Appliction...

admin@togo-media.com — 2011-08-18T02:19:54-04:00

Thank you for your indulgence as I suggest the following considerations with regard to the so often unjustly imposed benchmark know as ROI.

The anarchist in me loves the suggestion that considerations of ROI or "Return On Investment" be, dismissed as irrelevant. While, however, most of us have borne personal witness to strategic failures grown out of flawed deference to measures of ROI, I would suggest many of these failures are not in the application of these measures but in their determination...

Oozy Rat in a Sanitary Zoo…

admin@togo-media.com — 2011-08-18T01:35:22-04:00

Are we the architects of our own destinies? So many things in our lives manifest as cycles… even our paths through the relationships we form and grow, here and elsewhere, cycle through a life seeming sometimes their own...

Supercalafragilisticexpealodocious does not make a good safeword…

admin@togo-media.com — 2011-08-01T03:42:38-04:00

From a very early age the concept of safety and being safe is drilled repeatedly into each of us. From the habitual behaviors associated with the yearly fire drills and bus safety presentation to the root metaphors underlying a simple game of Red-light Green-light. As we mature, the ability to effectively communicate, through myriad means, our desires to move or stop, be touched or left alone, tickled or soothed, supported or challenged becomes integral to all our relationships—even our survival...

Social media marketing IS marketing...

admin@togo-media.com — 2011-07-26T20:14:50-04:00

Social media marketing IS marketing. The key is learning what tools are available and how to use them well.

Just as with a new instrument, the complexity of how and what you play comes with experience. Beautifully, there are few barriers—financial or otherwise—to picking up the basics. Do not wait to try your hand...

Thoughts on New York Castes...

admin@togo-media.com — 2011-07-17T21:38:36-04:00

As I recently bespattered from Grand Central to 56th street in the pouring rain I was struck by, among a plethora of other semi-gelatinous goobers, the spontaneous deconstruction of what I always accepted, for better or worse, as fundamental to the city--a system of New York social, financial and racial castes. Nonetheless, as I took cover within a small entranceway I found myself welcomed into an impromptu, incredibly demographically diverse caste made up of “have-nots”--have not umbrellas that is...

Perfection—Not a Mathematical Post…

admin@togo-media.com — 2011-07-12T00:18:03-04:00

This is NOT a mathematical post. That said, following is the nine thousand six hundred-eighty-ninth ’perfect’ number—a number that is the sum of all its positive factors (divisors), save itself.

So often I’ve heard friends articulate their desire to find perfection—in the perfect mate; in themselves; in their work. Arduous goals for adults, I’ve seen this desire for perfection tragically stifle children to the point of complete stagnation. The number below, and its seemingly arbitrary, albeit historical, theological characterization, only further begs the questions…

The Big Rocks…

admin@togo-media.com — 2011-07-12T00:13:32-04:00

Stephen Covey, in the book First Things First recalls the following story that one of his associates experienced in a seminar. The original presenter of the story remains unknown. While some of you may already be familiar with its lessons, I’ve found it valuable to return to it now and then over my years. I hope you find the same...

Giving thanks in over 1200 languages, dialects and variations…

admin@togo-media.com — 2011-07-12T00:11:11-04:00

(Transliterated where appropriate.)

Can you find yours? (Hint: the originating language or people are in alphabetical order.)

Wliwni ni, Wliwni, Oliwni, Mantiox chawe, Maketai, Yuuminsame, Wapsaw, Thawerapsaw, Gadda ge, Dankie, Baie dankie, Ntyox teru’, Seé, Tsin’aen, Iyayraykere, Hioy’oy, Gui lah hui te ha, Gui lah hui mi a de, Gui lah hui dui dui ma, Ghu long khu me-ah, Gu lah hu ma de , Saeamat kimo, Alíila, Kano, Kanobi, Tá, Alíilamoolo, Kanoomoolo, Kanopalammoolo...

Going to the Sun...

admin@togo-media.com — 2011-07-12T00:03:59-04:00

A young student recently told me he wanted to be an astronaut when he grew up. I said, “That’s terrific! Where do you want to go?”

“I’m going to build a rocket and fly to the Sun!” he proudly exclaimed...

Amazon Terminates Associates Program Due to New Connecticut Law

admin@togo-media.com — 2011-06-10T10:07:42-04:00

For well over a decade, the Amazon Associates Program has worked with thousands of Connecticut residents. Unfortunately, the budget signed by Governor Malloy contains a sales tax provision that compels us to terminate this program for Connecticut-based participants effective immediately. It specifically imposes the collection of taxes from consumers on sales by online retailers—including but not limited to those referred by Connecticut-based affiliates like you—even if those retailers have no physical presence in the state...

Mark Strauss Interviewed at UnitedInsight Negotiation Conference

admin@togo-media.com — 2011-06-02T11:32:24-04:00

The UnitedInsight event The Psychology of Successful Negotiations was a huge success thanks to Daylian Cain (Yale SOM) and the energetic group of professionals in attendance, which included representatives of Deloitte, IBM, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, TOGO Media and PepsiCo.

Since that summer, I have fixed many flashlights...

admin@togo-media.com — 2011-05-25T23:38:15-04:00

I had an interesting experience as a teenager in my first summer job as a salesperson for a retail electronics chain (company name deliberately withheld). The following experience has stayed with me the rest of my life. In light of what so many have shared above, I consider myself lucky to have learned what I believe is such an important lesson, so early...

Lorem Ipsum…

admin@togo-media.com — 2011-05-25T23:24:39-04:00

Of course, the message here is not spoken by the passage itself, but by its typographical aesthetic. Two thousand years after its author, this passage remains the perfect typographical form to represent text in design that has yet to be defined. Lorem Ipsum begins a passage whose word-length, spacing, distribution and look represent a perfect typographical archetype...

Tales of Young Entrepreneurship Run Amok...

admin@togo-media.com — 2011-05-25T22:29:21-04:00

I offer the following true tale of young entrepreneurship run amok with the reasonable belief that there does exist some relevant statute of limitations that has surely run its course…