Ten Things You Didin't Know About William Haskins

William Haskins is the sort of writer who makes you instantly feel like a hack. He writes with the sort of efficiency which cuts to the quick in three lines and leaves you thinking about them for the next three weeks. Get a load of this from The Necessary Language...

Panem Et Circenses (Bread and Circuses) 

By William Haskins 

feed the belly
dazzle the eye

quell the anger
snuff the cry

make the people
forget they die

hide the truth
and spread the lie

take the land
and sell the sky

tell them how
but never why

feed the belly
dazzle the eye

Through Absolute Write I have had the opportunity to joust a little and although our opinions may differ on certain subjects Haskins is faultless in his logic and respectful always. He, I think through no real intention, has hoards of fans  and a seeming inaccessibility which of course only adds to the mystery. Writer, producer, director, Haskins is a legend waiting to happen. Script supervisor and co-producer on the Burning Man documentary project he convinced me to delve a little further into this counter-culture and ask myself some difficult questions about the value of self expression. Which I swear I have put in my diary to do early next year (oh, I'm joking you losers). 

So with my ten questions in hand, I thought I would see if the Haskins enigma would crack open a little. Of course like the true gentleman he is I received a reply immediately. 

"Ten Things you didn't know about William Haskins"

Thanks for thinking of me.

-William

1. If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, it would
be... crawfish.

2. If I weren't in business, I would be a... poet.

3. Something I would like to do, but haven't had the chance... travel
through Africa.

4. The last concert I went to... The Greencards.

5. My favorite toy as a kid... a starter set of oil paints.

6. When I'm not working, you'll find me... scribbling in a moleskine.

7. My favorite TV show is... news.

8. My oddest paranoia or superstition is... I'll never be able to fall
asleep again.

9. My last movie I saw was... "Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride" - a
documentary on the life of Hunter Thompson.

10. If I could have dinner with a famous person, dead or alive, he or she
would be... J.D. Salinger.
 

Thanks William! 

Ten Things you didn't know about Guy Kawasaki

“The only thing worse than a presentation which sucks is a presentation which sucks and you don’t know how much longer it will suck.”

Former Apple uber Evangelist, current founder director of Garage.com venture capital firm, and one of my personal heroes - Guy Kawasaki has made famous Top Tens and numbered presentations among a list of other great things everyone should know unless you are too young or born on another planet. I was telling this to a group the other day and thought to myself I would send the man himself a list of ten things I didn’t know about him.

Keeping with my experience from receptionists to CEOs - the higher up the food chain you go the more reactive and accessible people are. Guy shot his responses back into my in-box faster than a slap-shot puck in his beloved ice-hockey despite a timetable which would make normal mortals weep and the fact he is travelling at the moment and speaking in Ontario.

 

So here we go… ten things you didn’t know about Guy Kawasaki

 
 1. If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, it would be...Rice balls (musubis) 

2. If I weren't in business, I would be a... VP of marketing of an NHL team (working for a hockey team would not qualify
as "work" for me).
 
3. Something I would like to do, but haven't had the chance... Nothing, I'm doing what I want to do.
 
4. The last concert I went to... I can't remember the last concert I went to. It was that long ago. I don't
like crowded places with lots of noise other than my speeches. :-)
 
5. My favorite toy as a kid... Firecrackers
 
6. When I'm not working, you'll find me... Playing hockey. More accurately, when I'm not playing hockey, you'll find me
working.
 
7. My favorite TV show is... Boston Legal, Rescue Me, 24, and The Unit in a four way tie.
 
8. My oddest paranoia or superstition is... Shutting off the shower multiple times before I fly in an airplane.
 
9. My last movie I saw was... Whatever the football movie with The Rock in it.

10. If I could have dinner with a famous person, dead or alive, he or she would be... My mother, now dead.

 

Thanks Guy! 

Ten things you didn't know about Jenna Glatzer

Kelly asks the question – why blog? The short answer is it’s work and fun. I tap into interesting thinkers who are updating their thoughts and philosophies daily. Imagine the possibility of having access to the daily musings of published writers in your field and being able to interact and leave comments and ask questions and they actually like it! It’s fantastic.

I do a lot of stuff. People say to me “I don’t know how you do it”. I’m not going to say that I’m not busy because I am, I wake up early and I hit the ground running. I consider what I do to be work, but I don’t consider the opposite of work to be play. Work and play are perfectly compatible and the more I have fun in what I do, the more I can do. The opposite of play is depression. If you consider your job to be the opposite of play then I’m not surprised you have trouble getting stuff done because the definition you are giving yourself is one of depression.

My father used to say if you want something done ask a busy person. Why? Because they integrate a new task into their time easily and quickly and you are almost guaranteed it will be done. Asking someone who has nothing to do all day may seem logical and even benevolent, but won’t get the job done.

So with these thoughts in mind I shot off an email to Jenna Glatzer to tell me ten things I didn’t know about her. I received a response back so fast my computer actually moved. If anyone needs motivation to get stuff done look at Jenna’s jam-packed output and when you are finished weeping get to work! Thirty years young, schmoozing with Celine Dion, fifteen fabulous books, a jillion magazine articles, and the best writer’s board on the web. Absolute Write is a case study in marketing alone attaining a popularity through credibility and a community who defends and promotes AW with an evangelism which would make many companies envious.

So here we go:

Ten things you didn’t know about Jenna Glatzer…

Hey! Sounds like fun. Thanks for asking me! Your other interviewees are so concise with their answers. I'll attempt not to be too much of a windbag.

1. If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, it would be...

My mom's chicken cutlets.

2. If I weren't in business, I would be a…

Stage director, directing musical theatre.

3. Something I would like to do, but haven't had the chance…

Ice skate. Every time I watch the Winter Olympics, I think, "I could do that!" But I've never been to a rink. And I'd probably be a klutz.

4. The last concert I went to…

American Idol.

5. My favorite toy as a kid…

Snoopy Sno-Cone.

6. When I'm not working, you'll find me…

Sigh. I'm always working.

*thinkthinkthink*

Oh! Sometimes I sleep. And shower.

7. My favorite TV show is…

Ever? Buffy the Vampire Slayer. No series will ever top it, as far as I can figure. Currently? Nip/Tuck, though I wish it were a bit less over the top.

8. My oddest paranoia or superstition is….

Food poisoning. I check the expiration dates on everything, much to the offended huffs of my mom (c'mon, I've found salad dressing in her refrigerator that was a decade old).

9. My last movie I saw was…

Superman Returns, I think. Wasn't my choice.

10. If I could have dinner with a famous person, dead or alive, he or she would be…

Gilda Radner. Her memoir gripped me.

Thanks Jenna! Read on Matt's blog Fireflies in the Cloud in the AW Blogroll 6....

Taliamana
Peregrinas
IndianRaj
Just a Small Town Girl
A View From the Waterfront
Southern Expressions
Mad Scientist Matt
Organized Chaos
At Home, Writing
Writing From Within
Pass the Torch
BCOM
Fireflies in the Cloud
Sounds of Serenity
Kappa no He
Infinite Vanity
Gillian Polack
Of Chapters and Reels
Curiouser and curiouser
The Road Less Traveled
Livien 

 

Ten things you didn't know about Tugdual de Montbrillant

So you want to know if someone is pitching to you? Their mouth is moving. Everyone has something to sell so get used to it, it's the name of the game. Every company in business today in France has the same number one priority - make money. If the company doesn't have profit making as their objective, and you work for this company - run. According to this study of twenty countries, France came in as the only country with the majority of people surveyed saying the free market economy is a bad idea. Hello? Hello, anyone home? Even Kenya thinks the free market is a good idea. Globalisation is a reality and those who adapt to it best will benefit from it, those who don't - well, no one cares. There are two sides to the equation - the inside and the outside. You choose which side you want to be on.

So with these thoughts in mind I stomped onto the tennis court with Tugdual de Monbrillant and after an impressive start, I withered away in the second set to losing quite dismally. These finance guys are wily in business and the business of tennis is no exception. Of course I have the finesse of a pick-up truck. All first serve at 200 km/h with 3% of them landing in the service box. I put on a good show. If there were spectators I'm sure they would have been cheering for me, but tennis is about the score at the end and not really about how cool you look on the court (which accounts for my terrible win/loss record). I guess at the end of the day I would give my money to Tug knowing he is going to make more with it and probably come to see one of my seminars knowing I'd impress the hell out of myself. Horses for courses and all of that.

Ten things you didn't know about Tugdual de Montbrillant...

1. If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, it would be…  sea  food (anything  really  but seafood!)

2. If I weren't in business, I would be a…round the world traveller

3. Something I would like to do, but haven't had the chance…becoming a martial arts expert (did some judo and karaté but not enough to be able to say I'm an expert...)

4. The last concert I went to…that was in a pub in Dublin

5. My favorite toy as a kid…loved playing with planes...Had a Concorde!

6. When I'm not working, you'll find me…At home with my wife, my son (and really soon my second one) and my dog.

7. My favorite TV show is…who wants to be a millionaire with Chris Tarant

8. My oddest paranoia or superstition is….do I have one?  can't see any really!

9. My last movie I saw was…X Men

10. If I could have dinner with a famous person, dead or alive, he or she would be…I thing I'll go for the pope (JP II) because it was really difficult to have 5 minutes in private with him, so imagine having dinner!

 

 

Thanks Tug!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Add to: | blinklist | del.cio.us | digg | yahoo!

Ten things you didn't know about Jean-François Lintanff

I have spent many hours talking about journeymen and evolutionists this year. The idea of evolution has become so integral to business that the existance of a coherent CV is now nearly a curiosity and companies feel a little silly asking for five years of experience for sectors which have only existed for four years. Universities are starting to ask the question - what if the piece of paper we are selling isn't really that important after all? - and smart businesses are looking through the qualifications and trying to scratch out the pearls from the swine. The start up boom and eCommerce lead by young enthousiatic people continues to put the dinosaurs' noses out of joint but if Pierre Kosciusko-Morizet, just thirty-something French thunderlizard can persuade the PME minister Renaud Dutreil to do some gardening for him, well, anything is possible.

The first time I met Jean-François Lintanff, I received a machine gunning of his professional evolution. From the military to Business Development Manager at Geodis in ninety seconds flat, delivered in an English more correct than most of my classmates from uni and with the logic of a contemporary journeyman. The evolution to the position he has seemed like a logical sequence of events, but one which you probably aren't going to find in any textbook of how to rise into senior management. Undoubtably one of the most active members on Viaduc with a network about the size of Belgium, but always approachable and honed in the art of the follow-up (you always get a response). 

So with his usual high-octane turn around time (hey, we need to get those packages out, now!) Jean-François agreed to my 'Ten things you didn't know about...' questions and  fired them back to my email address so fast my computer is still smoking.

Ten things you didn't know about Jean-François Lintanff

1. If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, it would be… Oysters (and white wine, with fresh bread, and salted butter)

2. If I weren't in business, I would be an…Officer in the French Light Armoured Reconnaissance Cavalry.

3. Something I would like to do, but haven't had the chance…Vendee Globe : a sailing race around the world, for singlehanders, without any stopover,

4. The last concert I went to…St Patrick celtic concert at “ the stade de France ” in Paris.

5. My favorite toy as a kid… my Robin Hood costume and my bow.

6. When I'm not working, you'll find me… at home with my family

7. My favorite TV show is… SATC (ethnology)

8. My oddest paranoia or superstition is….no idea. “should I have one ?”

9. My last movie I saw was… “Le Crabe-tambour” by Pierre Schoendorfer

10. If I could have dinner with a famous person, dead or alive, he or she would be… Saint Thomas d’Aquin (Catholic Church theologian)

Thanks JF!

 

 

 

 

 

Add to: | del.cio.us | digg

Ten things you didn't know about Bruno Blanchard

Tireless French business networking guru Bruno Blanchard with his ever keen eye and sharpened sense of a good idea responded with his usual lightening speed to my email. Founder of the first Club Business in the Maine-et-Loire which has now propogated to cover France with Club Businesses in departments everywhere, bringing people together to schmooze and press flesh, he accepted to respond to my "Ten things you didn't know about...".

The art of schmoozing in France is a delicate activity but one which is developing now as people are discovering that 1 - Everyone needs contacts and 2 - No one is going to steal your idea so, it's better to create bridges between people instead of burning them and 3 - If it's a good idea there are five people doing it already, if it's a great idea there are probably fifteen so stop being si coincé, it's time to circulate.

Talking about business is boring. Part of the game is to talk about things which you are interested in and things which may be of interest to someone else. If someone is talking to me about financial placements and percentage points endlessly I won't know anything really about the guy and probably won't give him any of my money. But if we are talking about the kids in school and why Australia shouldn't have been beaten by Italy in the World Cup, I have built a link which can be built on in the future and when I'm looking for someone to spend my money I'll think, "hey, I know a guy".

The rise of Viaduc as a network for professionals enables virtual conversation and first contact with people via your computer, but at some point you need to get out and press flesh, or really meet people. Which is where Bruno dove in and now provides evenings for business people to concretize their contacts exchange business cards and schmooze in comfort.

 

Ten things you didn’t know about Bruno Blanchard

1. If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, it would be… Cheese (and wine)

2. If I weren't in business, I would be a…Bass player in a rock band

3. Something I would like to do, but haven't had the chance… Time travel

4. The last concert I went to…the Inmates in London

5. My favorite toy as a kid…Teddy bear

6. When I'm not working, you'll find me…home with the family

7. My favorite TV show is…Only Fools and Horses on BBC

8. My oddest paranoia or superstition is….don't have any

9. My last movie I saw was…Camping , french comedy (not so funny actually)

10. If I could have dinner with a famous person, dead or alive, he or she would be…Frédéric Dard (french writer)

 

Thanks Bruno!

 

 

 

 

Add to: | del.cio.us | digg