Information Maven: Greg Meyer

P1060342

Originally uploaded by gregmeyer.

For the first time in the 2007 season tonight, the Phillies made it over .500 by beating the hated Atlanta Braves. I’m not ready just yet to proclaim that the Phightins will make the playoffs, but this outcome at least provides a glimmer of hope that the latest batch of bad luck, malaprops and poor playing will only be a distant reminder come August.

Then again, this is the losingest team in Major League Baseball history we’re talking about here. Check back in a few weeks to see if the luck continues. In the meanwhile, enjoy this shiny photo from my first visit to the Money Pit back in April.

As a full time worker and a mostly full-time MBA student, I sometimes wonder why there are not more hours in the day. Since January, my “free time” has dwindled and I spend a lot of my discretionary time thinking about the contribution to national income of government spending or wondering how I can make my spreadsheet model a little bit more efficient.

But that misses the point. My accounting professor responded when we, the class, asked him the difference between the students in our part-time, evening and weekend program, and the full time students, saying “you guys understand opportunity cost.” What he meant, of course, is that we get most of the learning opportunity that the full time students do without giving up our day jobs.

I think I can apply that priniciple to the rest of my work (outside of the degree work that is) — to my relationships with my family and co-workers, and whenever anyone asks me for time. “There are not enough hours in the day.” It’s true, but misleading. Making the best use of those hours may feel like a crazy exercise but the more we try at it the better we get at maximizing the opportunities we have.

Jones Dessert Soda Pack

Originally uploaded by pandaposse.

I read some information about Coke and Pepsi this weekend as part of a case study, and I’m interested in how smaller firms can survive among the two giants. Jones is producing specialty flavors for Target. This is obviously a niche market but it provides a clear differentiation.

Jones has already switched to sugar from corn syrup in its formulation. This is another nod to “kindler, gentler” soda, but maybe also a way to break away from private-label producers such as Cott.

Jones has maintained its brand equity by distributing under its own name through Target - time will tell if this is an effective strategy for expanding distribution.

Motel, Leavenworth, WA

Originally uploaded by gregmeyer.

A friend recently referred me to the Set Generator on Flickr. Through the magic of the Flickr api, this site can automagically generate a new “most interesting” set of pictures from the set of all of my pictures nightly.

It’s a neat solution for organizing the pictures and to see what floats up to the top of this list (not always my favorite pictures, but always … interesting). This picture may not be in the list soon ..

Here’s the link to the “most interesting” set

I’ve been using LinkedIn for about two years to maintain contacts for business networking. LinkedIn just added a brilliant feature called “Answers”, which allows you to post questions to your network and to the larger LinkedIn network.

So, why is this any different from the glut of “Answers” products that have hit the marketplace in the last few years, including products from Amazon, Yahoo, and Google? This offering is different because you can better control the scope of people to whom you ask the question. The value of a network like the one on LinkedIn is the ability to ask questions just beyond your circle of friends. You may get great answers from outgoing folks far outside your network, but so far I’ve gotten great responses from the more immediate weak ties, i.e. friends of friends.

Guy Kawasaki’s thoughts on how to use LinkedIn illustrate this point as well. Guy mentions ten ways to use LinkedIn effectively when you are researching startups. I think the most valuable of these ways is to evaluate companies you don’t know by looking at the online history of the people in those companies. That being said, LinkedIn is a tool - it doesn’t do the networking for you, it just makes it easier - and adding real face to face conversations to email makes your networking much much more effective. LinkedIn is a great way to get in the door.