BRAINFOOD (NO MSG)

In the June 2011 issue of Psychology Today (PT), the cover topic discusses clues to people’s character. Intelligence is considered the top of 6 traits that help predict (not guarantee) a person’s future path.

Psychology 101 would tell you that Intelligence is a hotly debated (and researched) matter.  According to PT, the capacity for conscious deliberate and abstract thinking is “controlled intelligence“. The ability to acquire and process information automatically – implicit learning -  is “spontaneous intelligence“.

People who are creative tend to have high controlled and spontaneous intelligence – and the important ability to switch between the two.  Hence, recognising the clues to intelligence will help predict creative output.

Clues to controlled and spontaneous intelligence include how a person:

• Systematically weighs pros and cons (controlled)
• Clearly defines and states a problem (controlled)
• Knows the difference between how he feels and what he thinks about an issue (controlled)
• Quickly takes in new information and understands complex situations (spontaneous)
• Generates mulitple solutions to a problem through brainstorming (spontaneous)
• Discards old or conventional ways of doing things (spontaneous)

Psychologists also note that the ability to generate humour is a good sign of intelligence. Humour and wit require complex cognitive skills, including language skills cum abstract and novel thinking.  Hence, it is no surprise that it is very hard to do good comedy, write a really funny story, or create viral content that is entertaining.

Intelligence can also be understood as how fast information is gathered and processed. This is the “nature” or genetic component of intelligence. Like a CPU on a motherboard, it is fixed. However, as we all know, the best CPU is nothing without the right software. This is the “nurture” or environmental component. And we all know too well that an older CPU running Windows XP provides better performanc than a more powerful CPU running Vista. (Or why we prefer Firefox to Internet Explorer.)

At Convertium, to optimise performance, we certainly need to manage both the hardware and software parts of the Intelligence equation. We start by recognising what we have, and then start to make things better.

Many people had many words to say about the recently concluded GE 2011. One word stuck in my mind, which has relevance for our business, and that word is “activist“.

Being an activist is a criteria that any good political party looks for in its candidates. People who walk the talk are worth a lot more than armchair critics and commentators. The same goes for our digtal and interactive business.

There are many who profess to be an expert in this and that. The current flavour is “social media expert”. But when you peel off the fancy labels, how many of these are really “activists”, people who are passionate about their calling and have gone down into the trenches to do the hard and dirty work? How many of them have the battle scars and war stories?

At Convertium, we are constantly  looking out for digital activists whom we can recruit into our ranks. We love to have comrades who are not only passionate about the Internet, but who can put their thoughts into action and achieve results for our clients.

More than consultants, Convertium must be like any successful political party.  We must have the big, inspiring ideas, and be able turn them into reality. That is why, we have a preference for doers over talkers.  Convertium is not an ivory tower – we make things happen online for our clients, and that is what we must constantly do.

My boss (aka The Wife) takes the cab rather than drive her own car. One advantage of that are some of the priceless words of wisdom (mostly unsolicited) from cab drivers.  Here’s one more she received today.

The taxi driver was a retired civil servant who was a team leader. He knew all about dealing with Gen X staff and baby boomers. An early advice he gave to his younger team members was the 3 Hs.

He would counsel that regardless of one’s position and job status, always remember this route to career success: Happiness, Health and Humility.

Do the job and activities that make you happy. And do them happily. Always take care of one’s health and not let the job affect your health – and vice versa. The most difficult one is humility.

Mr Cab Driver had worked with graduates, scholars, and Type As, amongst his many colleagues.  A lot of people would indeed pursue job and personal happiness. They would also worry and take care of their health.

However, when it came to eating humble pie, being simple and grateful, there was a sudden lack of self-awareness. Mr Cab Driver noted that the ones who rose through the ranks, AND were happy and healthy in their jobs for a long time, tended to be those who were humble and less self-serving.

Humility moderates extremes. It is a righting mechanism for our words, actions and thoughts.

Good advice, but the cab fare was still expensive.

A brilliant phrase by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, who wrote that in “The Little Prince” (1943). It is a book I recommend to be read and re-read whenever we adults get too caught up in the daily grind, or have crashed in our own desert, desperately looking for a well.

We can do with our Little Prince every now and then, to remind ourselves that the stars above are not meant to be counted and recorded in a ledger; and that each rose has a voice that speaks to you.

What is essential is invisible and it lies in the hearts and minds of men. We need to strip away the superfluous, the pretentious, the vulgar. Less is indeed more, for only than can we perceive, appreciate and elevate the essential.

Cut the clutter and savour the essence.

Matt Mattus wrote an inspiring and sobering piece in the Dec 08 issue of HOW magazine. He listed 10 characteristics of “culture creators”, people who find new sources of inspiration and seek to influence others through design.

This tenet is so pertinent for Convertium. As a company of Internet professionals, we should not only strive to do good work for our clients, but also create new ways of succeeding on the web. This can be in design, marketing, technology, whatever. We have to innovate and not just take.

I found Mattus’s article sobering because the characteristics of culture creators that he identified are not commonly found in individuals, and even companies. Yet, these characteristics are crucial to our success as an interactive agency. Here they are (paraphrased):

1. Feed curiosity: how many of us find wonder in all and everything around us? No business as usual! Always ask why and how!

2. Research everything: culture creators are obsessed with wanting to know more, why and how. They are not satisfied with just surface level or fleeting information.

3.  Develop intellect: the relentless pursuit knowledge is a must. Non-stop learning, and training to learn. (This is why one of our candidates interview question is what have they been reading lately?)

4. Respect history: we need to know that our present knowledge and expertise have come from the talent and toil of those who came before us. To create the future, we must understand the past.

5.  Crave excellence: there must be a broad passion for excellence in all things. From attention to details to an earth-shaking concept. You must pride in a job well-done. Any job.

6. Cultivate expertise: culture creators are experts or strive to become experts in their respective fields. The one thing that culture creators cannot tolerate is incompetence. Quality is non-negotiable.

7. Seek validity: focus on the end results – whether consumers want and like what is produced. In our business, we need to listen to the voices that matter. Filter out the gibberish.

8. Create fearlessly: we need both brains and the fire in the belly to succeed. To boldly go where other have not demands that we be passionate experts – and fight for what we believe.

9.  Celebrate rarity: not only must we love talent, we must be able to see the uniqueness and wonder in all things great and small. We seek originality, and once found, we cherish it.

10. Be original:  ultimate, the culture creator must be a leader. Of thought, creation, action. There is no formula, only rules to be broken, new chapters to be written. CREATE not copy.

This is why at Convertium we seek culture creators. Are you one?

In his latest book, “Outliers”,  Malcolm Gladwell mentions the 10,000-hours rule.  This rule states that for someone to become very good at a task, he needs to spend 10,000 hours doing it.  From brain surgeon to rocket scientist to programmer, the very good professionals are the ones who have clocked in the really serious hours.

Talent, is just a predisposition. An opportunity.  The common factor in success stories is simple hard toil and effort.  Even child prodigies score earlier because they started practising and rehearsing when they were very young.

Using Bill Gates as an example, Gladwell reminds that the world’s richest man started his programming activities when he was still a teenager.  At 13, Gates started spending hours a day at a mainframe terminal. This was back in 1969 when even top universities did not have computer access.  By the time he dropped out of Harvard, Gates had more programming experience than most programmers would have in a lifetime.

10,000 hours, even at 8 hours a day, take 1,250 days. Divided by 20 working days a month, that works out to 62.5 months that a professional would need to be honing his specific trade at.  So, I would be wary of anyone who claims to be an expert in anything after a year or even a few. 10 years would seem more humanly reasonable. (Interesting to note that the Catholic Church has similar training requirements for most of their priestly orders.)

At Convertium, we actually have colleagues who have clocked in more than 10,000 hours of experience in their areas of online expertise (don’t call us uncles!).  But since the Internet is still a relatively young field, it is the collective expertise that our 30 colleagues generate on a monthly and yearly basis that truely allows us to serve our clients more effectively.

It helps that everyone at Convertium is passionate about the Internet. And we do nothing but Internet work 8 hours (ok, always more) a day, 5 days a week, 50 weeks a year (less leave days and slacking time).  At the individual level, we all strive to become the 10,000-hours expert.  As a company, we generate that 10,000 hours every 2 months.  That is why we are stronger and better together.

The next time you meet an Internet expert (or any other for that matter), think 10,000 hours.

The Singapore Government has awarded the Singapore’s Next Generation National Broadband Network to the OpenNet consortium, which includes SingTel and SPH, amongst others.

 The nation-wide roll-out of the 10x faster broadband (1 Gbps)  infrastructure has been accelerated from 2015 to 2012.  However, 60% of the country is expected to start enjoying innovative broadband services in 2 years’ time. Yes, in 2010!

The above development has serious implications for all businesses that use the Internet for marketing and commerce. (Which means everyone.)

In short, expect lots of consumer demand for very rich multi-media content and services to be delivered.  Think hi-def videos, large volume downloads, multi-dimensional interactions, and user interfaces straight out from your favourite sci-fi movie.  Your nicely designed website just isn’t  going to cut it anymore.

No longer will it suffice to have fancy Flash banners and “interactive” websites.  Even the collaborative Web 2.0 applications  (e.g. Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Google apps) and other forms of User Generated Content (UGC) that we know of now will soon be passé.

Imagine (if you can) what type of content can be delivered online at 10x the present broadband speed.  Businesses, large and small, will need to get very innovative and start learning (now!) how to confront the challenges of this super-rich media environment.  Yes, businesses will need to invest (much) more in compelling and relevant content.  We can hear SPH and Mediacorp laughing all the way to the nearest DBS.

What can you do with all that broadband bandwidth?  If you do not know, someone else will, and they will eat your lunch faster than you can say “1 Gbps”. In fact, other countries like Korea, Taiwan and even Hong Kong are already moving faster than Singapore.  We will be getting there sooner than many companies may be ready for.

If the Singapore Government makes the super-broadband services affordable (tax payers’ money is used to ramp up the infrastructure), expect penetration rates to be  easily be as high as the broadband rate we now have.

What about your agency?

Whoever is working with you on your marketing and business operations had better ready too.

At Convertium, we are anticipating enhanced (and new) design and development technologies to be available.  So, for us, it is non-stop learning how to use such tools to exploit rich-media and multi-dimensional interaction opportunities.  We will also need to be thinking more of content as well.  For now, we are setting up a brain trust to better prepare our creative, technology and marketing practices for the challenges ahead.

We look forward to new online platforms delivering content and services from all sources imaginable (and un-imaginable). The consumer’s media consumption pattern is going to be radically changed.  And we want to be amongst those doing the changing.

We hope to see you there, too

(Source: www.ida.gov.sg)

Our quick take on Chrome (Google’s new web browser) is: hold on to your pants.

We do not anticipate any sudden and significant migration of users to Chrome for the near to mid-term (12 months). It seems to be a good browser, but significant improvements are behind the screen and not obvious to the layman.

In fact, regular users of Internet Explorer, Firefox and other browsers may find few compelling reasons to make the switch. Frankly, if you are not a techie or novelty junkie, Chrome can wait.

Most users should still be using Internet Explorer, which is the default in Windows PCs.  A growing minority will still use Firefox (less than 20%). Of immediate concern would be compatibility issues for your websites.  Chrome does not pose a significant issue, as it is web standards compliant.

Nonetheless, Convertium will be assessing clients’ websites on Chrome over the next couple of weeks.  If there is any compatibility issues, our clients will be alerted. If you have any questions on Chrome, please feel free to contact us.

This one should interest all managers and bosses. According to a Harvard Business Review podcast (Mar 08), 60% of all interpersonal conversation in the office falls into two categories: (1) workers talking about how good they are; (2) workers denigrating and complaining about their co-workers. And this is a worldwide phenomenon.

The weather, and even babies, take a back seat to self-promotion and the tearing down of others. And it does not surprise me one bit. Why? Because if everyone were wise and rational, we would all be wearing togas

So, people can be blind to the detrimental impact, even to their own person, brought about by all the negative conversations and gossips. A really basic rule of thumb applies in such situations: if a topic does not add value, avoid it. Of course, this begs the question whether people understand and recognise value.

Another great advice I have been given is, whatever you would not say in front of someone, do not say (or write) it anywhere else. (Same thing goes for things on the Internet – if you have to hide it from your parents, kids and co-workers, click away from it!)

Which brings us back to why, oh why, do people spend 60% of their office chit chat on negative matters. Confucius probably got it right. The “superior man” (大人) does not need to stoop to low levels in order to promote himself. If fact, it is his duty to promote all those over whom he has influence. On the other hand, the “lesser man” (小人), will sow discord, exploit the weak, and take advantage for self-gain. The question that Confucius poses is whether the “lesser man” can ever learn and recognise good values. The answer is yes (except for some gone-case types).

This is where we come back to our corporate world. Confucius points the way by saying, “By nature, men are nearly alike; by practice, they get to be wide apart.” For example, it is by the constant practice of asking “Does it create value?”, and acting on the logical conclusions, would we be able to do the right thing, say the right thing. Ethics needs practice.

I believe in a world of 大人, where we can reclaim 60% of our talk time for something much better.

Convertium has its roots in the development and management of content heavy portals. (Hence the “Interactive Content Management” and “Content is King” in our corporate branding.) Over the past seven years, we have swum with – and against – Internet trends. Today, we are happily entrenched as an interactive solutions company.

Whether you call us an interactive agency, a portal company, or web consultants, hardly matter to us. To our clients, we are their online business and marketing guys.

While we are not abadoning our heritage (still a unique strength), to better reflect the type of company (and people) we are today, Convertium is adopting a new descriptor, or tagline, if you will.

Convertium = (Internet + Passion) x Results

This simple equation sums up who and what we are today. A company of interactive experts (creative, technology, marketing, project management) who are totally passionate and geeky about our chosen playing field – the Internet.

But more important is the fact the we combine our passion and expertise to produce and multiply results for our clients. Be it revenue, traffic, members or share of heart and mind, we look forward to meeting and exceeding our clients’ KPIs for us.

That’s it. Quite simple. Now, let us get back to work, where it is exciting and fun on the Internet.