Today I was no longer able to balance patience and temper; pretty tough for somebody with a pulse of 50 and a micro-second reaction time. The situation today reminded me of a great poster, picturing the Roaring Forties, and headlined "In calm waters everybody could be a good Captain." Very true. But how un-calm has the sea to become, before the captain starts feeling uncomfortable?

I recall the following situation, decades ago:

My navigator admitted that he was really frightened after having received an unusual order from me: "Get us to the next harbor". Knowing the heading at that time (southward, approaching Africa), he had then asked for further direction, and I responded that the direction wouldn't matter - he should just get us to the nearest harbor.

While I was sensing that we were heading towards an unannounced, and very severe storm, everybody else was enjoying the sun, and the fun. The crew at that time was completely inexperienced, and I didn't want to scare them without being sure if my senses were correct. Without giving any further context, my behavior and commands appeared pretty odd to the crew. While I was really scared, I also didn't want to show my own angst, fearing the predictable panic amongst the crew, and the foreseeable disastrous results.

At the end we were hit by an extreme local weather anomaly with wind speeds close to 100 mph, but nobody was hurt, and the ship didn't suffer any damage at all. This was the result of being prepared; would I have commanded an experienced crew of sailors, I would have informed them. Not possible in this case, I had thought, because I was more scared of my crew's possible panic than about the storm.

18 souls were lost on that day, when three ships sunk.

Even today I'm not sure if my behavior was optimal. One immediate learning was easy: I never again headed sea-bound without an experienced IO, potentially replacing the captain. Maybe I should have warned the crew. Even today that's unclear to me. After nearly 30 years I still think it's all about managing expectations. Can I always control the situation? No, off course not. My navigator admitted that I had scared more then hell out of him on that day, being the incarnation of Captain Ahab. But he also acknowledged that he'd now follow me everywhere, no matter where I'd be heading. Good to know.

Today was a day of bad news only. An incredible number of people failed to manage my expectations. Everything affair that could go wrong actually did go wrong: Personal, family, staff, finance, job. One was worse than the other, and at the end of the day I bought this personal finance manager, developed by the company I'm working for. I received an employee discount because I purchased it in the company store. Could have bought it in a normal retail shop - and would have received the same discount through a mail-in rebate. Big deal.

Then I installed this software on one of my employer's computers, because my stuff hasn't arrived yet. The installation routine crashed, but I managed to work around that. Then I started the software, and it crashed while accessing the Internet for registration. I managed to work around that too. After restarting the thing it tried to connect to Online Services, and crashed.

Every time the software crashed I was notified that the error details were submitted to my employer for further investigation. Wing it.

Oh boy, they completely lost it. Disconnected from reality. I wonder when any of these execs has spoken to a real user during a 1:1.

Next thing I'm going to buy, when I'm back home, is a commodity hardware box. I'll install an OS on that box that will actually work, and which will be tightly integrated with the cloud, and I'll never complain again about the deficiencies of any commercial software: My captain has not prepared me yet, and I'm sensing a major storm to which he doesn't respond.

"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, martini in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "Woo Hoo, what a ride!"

Unknown Author

Some people really seem to be over committed. I had never thought about this way, but here's the case: If you would be addicted to guitar heroes, would you give-up this

Eric Clapton live in concert

On Tuesday night, May 6, [snip] is thrilled to host a private concert starring legendary blues/rock guitarist and singer/songwriter Eric Clapton.

Considered one of the world's preeminent guitarists, Clapton was a member of such seminal rock bands as The Yardbirds, Cream,  Derek and the Dominos, and Blind Faith. His career has flourished for more than 40 years and won him 19 Grammy Awards and the distinct honor of being the only triple inductee into the Rock  and Roll Hall of Fame. Join us for an unforgettable evening with this singular artist.

I know a guy who gives up a concert ticket, for meeting a bunch of executives who don't really care - only because he thinks he could change the rules of the game. That sounds like commitment.

But the guy is even taking a red eye in coach class, across the US, with a stop-over in Chicago (the worst connecting place imaginable) - and that must be over-commitment.

Or how would you call such stupidity?

One of the most interesting aspects of globalization are air fares. Here's a good example to demonstrate the impact of professional yield manaagement.

The difference of more then eight thousand dollars may look extreme, but actually it's just anormal market rwaction. Poor guy ifyou have to jumpon a plane on short notice.

For comparison reasons, here are some alternative price quotes, same leg, same time frame:

- Expedia: $ 3,492.50 (CO - 17 hrs via Newark Liberty), $3,678.50 (LH - 10 hrs on-stop). Alternaibes from SAS, United, Continental and US AIrways are offered, but the're more expensive.

- Flights.com:  $ 3,372.00 (CO - 17 hrs via Newark Liberty). The LH flight or SAS connectiions () via CPH) are not offered at all.

Since my employer always chooses the cheapest flight, they basically value one hour of my work at $43.78. Good to know. I'm working too much anyway.

It's also interesting to know that the Continental flight is available at $ 3,372, if booked online. with the airline. So how does Flights.com fund itself? I'm sure they receive a hidden referral fee from Continental, otherwise their proposeschedule wouldn't make any sense.

And here comes the funny part of the story: Due to the airline's sales compensation systems the flight rates significantly defer, depending on where from you're booking. LH for example first checks your locale, and then directs you to the approrpriate booking engine. Here's the fair if booking through the portal in Germany:

It seems only a minor difference, but we're talking about more than 2 grand here. And that can't be explained by taxes only (9% in Washington state vs. 19% in Germany).

Actually that's a pretty good deal, if you're an educatedconsumer. But most consumers are naive sheep whoe believe to be educated.

Here's the challenge: Try this from different locations (countries), like Hongkong, Singapore, Helsinki (anybody speaking Suomi around here?), etc. and let me know the results :-)

Having live entertainment at an otherwise (relative) boring enterprise exhibition is always attracting the crowds. In this special case I'm sure Microsoft won some new customers for Guitar Hero, a nice side effect beyond the original intentions.

While watching the exhibition floor I was wondering whether it really makes sense for the participating vendors to spend so much money for their give-away gadgets (Fujitsu gave away a brand new Toyota Camry).

Sure, lots of people are attracted, but it was obvious that these folks were not interested at all in the vendors products, services, or demos. The only reason they came by was the opportunity to fill their swag. If that observation is correct, wouldn't it make sense to focus on the fewer visitors who are really interested in learning something from the vendors? Talking to them, and watching their body language, talk, and behavior, I noticed another interesting effect: These guys - qualified prospects in marketing speak - were not interested in marketing fluff like gadgets, or even free dinners.

Combining the two observations results in the question if there really be would any ROI for the marketing expenses related to fairs and exhibitions?

In one of my previous lives I had decided to end the participation in general trade shows. It saved the company several millions, and had no measurable impact on lead generation, or sales.

Microsoft's Kurt DelBene delivered a good keynote today at Collaborate 2008, explaining Microsoft's interoperability story around the applications, that had been acquired by Oracle during recent years: Siebel CRM, Peoplesoft, JD Edwards. While renewing Microsoft's commitment to work with Oracle in supporting the two companies joint customers, he also explained the innovations to be created by Microsoft.

During that part of his speech he presented Microsoft's vision for the Office Business Platform. Here we go:

Wow, what a slide.

A long time ago I was taught, that a vision should be delivered by creating an emotional laden imagination of the desired future. Maybe I'm confusing things. Or the slide title is not quite correct.

If you ever thought Americans wouldn't live healthy, think again. And again. And one more time: Think again.

During my recent screening I was asked two questions that where never asked before in that order: What's your weight today? What was your weight at age 20?

Hmmh. I knew the answer to the question, but I wonder what the conclusion should be.

Quite often people blame American companies for being completely ignorant to different cultural attitudes, therefore not knowing how to do global business in a non-offensive manner. This is not true. Sometimes.

Being somebody who is running a global business I have to travel quite frequently. And that costs money. Unfortunately I just learned that my employer seems to assume, that instead of me visiting customers, they should come to see me. Otherwise it would be hard to understand why the spending limit on my corporate credit card is only a fourth of my personal credit limit. If that's a fair assumption, then the initially quoted blame would be true for my employer. What a pity. I then may need to educate the rednecks that in most parts of the world (e.g. outside of Arkansas), sales representatives travel to their customers, not the other way round.

Giving this situation the benefit of doubt, I found another possible reason: The reputation of my employer is so bad that the credit companies refuse to provide them with the same credit lines I was offered. That sounds cool. Other options I could imagine would include complete ignorance of the requirements of individual employees (.. we don't care who you are, that's the rule!), or the automation of processes which normally require human interaction (.. unless Turing's test is passed by an ERP system).

Being open minded, I'll continue to search for other explanations. Unless I've resolved that puzzle I'm better not telling anybody which company I'm working for.

This company I'm having fun with to work for is a highly efficient company: Everything not pat of the core business is outsourced. Cool.

There are some minor implications for the employees. Instead of taking care of my direct reports, managing multi-million dollar projects of my global customers, and providing strategic guidance to our executives, I entertained myself with the travel planning tool. After two days and twelve hours, only for travel planning, I start to love that game they've implemented here. I need to test-drive TavelPort on an XBox, it may even have a Silverlight UI there. Some of my colleagues are frustrated due to some bugs, but I guess they just haven't understood the concept yet. And instead of of blaming the system, they should simply try the help desk function. Having lived in India I didn't have too much trouble in understanding the support ladies, although I must admit that the Farsi accent and speed of talking may be a little difficult for my American colleagues in Fargo. C'mon guys, if I can understand nearly half of what they're saying, you should be able to do even better!

Anyway: During the process of booking my first travel I was educated (again) that only the best and brightest are allowed to be working here. One example is airport parking. The policy states that parking at the airport garage is not recommended. Instead, you should select one of the following options:

• From I-5 (exit #152 / S. 188th St.)
  Go west 1.2 miles to International Boulevard, turn right (heading north) .3 miles. Lot A is located on the right (at the Red Lion Hotel - Formerly the WestCoast SeaTac Hotel).
• From I-5 (exit # 154B) or I-405
  Continue to 518W. Proceed 1.3 miles to the SeaTac Airport exit. Continue 1 mile to the S. 170th St. exit. Turn left on Air Cargo Rd, and take the next immediate left on S. 170th St. Proceed .3 miles and Lot B is on the right (behind the Shell Station).
• From I-5 (exit # 154B) or I-405
  Continue to 518W. Stay in the right lane and take the HWY 99 South exit, proceed on HWY 99 Southbound for .2 miles. Lot C is located on the right.

Capicce? They forgot to mention that SeaTac currently is a major construction site, and all traffic or direction information is void. At least I wasn't able to locate any of these parking lots when hurrying to Dallas, but I guess I'm just not smart enough. Next time I'll order a taxi and follow them to the parking lot.

In order to avoid another conflict with my employer's standards of business conduct I'll be heading to the airport now. I'll have to catch a flight on April 14th.