TED Talk Tuesday is back! This talk was too good to pass up. The talk takes root and expands on one of Kennedy's best quotes, "The GNP measures everything except that which makes life worthwhile".

Though my knee jerk reaction is to think that quantifying "happiness" is like attempting to measure the direct ROI of a cashier smiling (or not smiling) at the point of sale (read: impossible), the outcome is quite simple and awe inspiring.  

Need another reason to watch?  Here is what TED had to say about this talk:

Statistician Nic Marks asks why we measure a nation's success by its productivity -- instead of by the happiness and well-being of its people. He introduces the Happy Planet Index, which tracks national well-being against resource use (because a happy life doesn't have to cost the earth). Which countries rank highest in the HPI? You might be surprised.

The easiest test to determine how happy you are with your chosen line of work (be it corporate employee or serial entrepreneur) is to judge your mood on Monday morning. Are you amped, hungry, and ready to attack the climb of the week in front of you with 100%? If so, congratulations! If not, maybe it's time to change your life.

The book is a 30 page e book.  Each page is contributed by entrepreneurs, bloggers, and thought leaders who were asked to share the one thing they wish they had known from the beginning.

Long time readers of Tt(h)B might recognize the message from my contributed page as it is something I have talked about at length in the past.

As your Tuesday winds down, I urge you to take a look through the book and remember:

There are two ways to learn:

1. Trial and error (Read: Failing a bunch)

2. From the wisdom of others. (Read: READ THIS BOOK!)

Conventional wisdom warns not to build a product without first having a customer.  This is a school of thought I struggle with when I see events unfold as they did in the picture above.  On Friday I attended ASR, the largest convention in the action sports industry, with Joey Santley and his brand new, recycled foam, surfboard.

To tweak Henry Ford's famous line, "If I had asked the customer what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse", If Joey would have asked his customer what they wanted, they would not have the slightest clue where to begin.  

Some Necessary Backstory

The surfboard manufacturing industry has been in shambles since 2005 when Clark Foam, supplier of over 90% of all surfboard blanks (what they shape surfboards out of), abruptly shut their doors pressured by their legal council for environmental reasons.  Since that time, manufactures have been forced to shift to alternative production methods.

Joey's Answer

The 'backstory' provided above make it deceptively easy to trace a line to the conclusion of creating a more eco-friendly product, but the reality is a bit different.  For many years manufactures avoided any form of recycled material because it simply didn't work.  It was either too heavy, too ugly, or too expensive to work with.  

Joey, and the Green Foam crew developed a method that created a recycled product that is virtually indistinguishable from brand new one.   Customers, and ultimately manufactures, were not screaming for an eco-friendly option because they did not think it was possible.

The Gamble

Joey's story is the perfect example that:

- The customer is NOT always right. (Mainly because they are not fully informed.)

- It is possible to create a product BEFORE building a database of customers. (You just have to take the gamble that all the ASSUMPTIONS you are making will fall into place.

I know this kid.  He is my youngest brother. He is damn near insane.  He was made to be an entrepreneur.

Recently, my brother decided to pack up and move deep into the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.  You see PJ "gets it" better at his age than most ever will.  

The message is simple, the message is obvious, and the message is one facet of what it means to "Be Action":

Do what you love... every single day.

It defies logic that people write this off as a possibility, and accept anything less.  Excuses riddled with the words 'can't' and 'because' seem to be hard wired into the minds of far too many.  Are you holding back?

Am I saying go jump off a cliff? Sure... if thrill seeking is what you love, by all means.  However, if your ambitions, your passions, your drive lies somewhere else GO THERE. DO THAT. 

PJ has a knack for mastering any single task, hobby, or goal he puts his mind to.  I have a feeling some time in the not so distant future PJ will start a business, a successful one, because he will choose to "be action".

You only get one shot at this thing called life.  

BE ACTION.

Happy Monday t(h)inkers!  Last week I spoke at Ignite San Diego.  Just the other day they announced that their recording of the talks would not be up for another couple weeks.  I don't blame them (they do have 16 to go through).  That being said, I did not want to keep my fellow t(h)inkers waiting!  The video above is my personal recording and edit of the ignite talk that I gave last Tuesday in San Diego. 

I have to give a huge thank you to Nick Saunders, Jenna Wolfe, Brent Picasso, Kelley Picasso, Julie Sando and my better half- Alli Markow for showing up to the event.  In addition, I am eternally grateful to Brian Johnson of Square Root Design Studio for not only showing up, but also recording the event, and spending multiple hours (using his less than able laptop *that doesn't even play video!*) converting the video to a format that I could use on my mac.

BE ACTION.

Jason

The image above says it all! Stay tuned for more information including a recording of the talk the minute it is available!

If you have any interest in seeing the talk streamed live online leave a comment or send me an email.  If enough people are interested, I will make the necessary arrangements to ustream it.

t(h)ink on.

Attention t(h)inkers, I need your help! This Friday the deadline for speaker submissions to Ignite here in San Diego closes, and I need your votes!

If you are unfamiliar with Ignite, the format is quite simple.  Each speaker is allotted exactly 5 minutes to talk.  Their powerpoint presentation consists of exactly 20 slides and auto plays while you are speaking.  I am proposing to talk about how sending one email (telling a company their website sucked) led to eating PB&Js with (and made by) award winning superstars while assisting in the gulf oil spill cleanup. In other words: How ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE.

If you have 12.8 seconds or more PLEASE click here to vote for me! You are given ten votes by default, and if you think my talk is worth it, you can give me up to three of them!  If selected to speak, I will record the show and get it uploaded here for those who can't make it out.

For those who can, the talk will be held on August 3rd at 7:30 PM at the HIVE Co-working space located in San Diego at 241 14th Ave San Diego, CA 92101.

t(h)ink on.

Hello t(h)inkers. How are you? Fantastic. A funny thing has been happening on youtube the past 72 hours.  As if the latest Oldspice commercial (above) were not enough, and for many (companies and ad agencies) it would be. The team behind the towel wearing smooth talker has truly redefined "social" media. 

If you are late to the party, here is the deal: Isaiah Mustafa the "Guy wearing the towel in the Old Spice commercials" has been firing off video replies, on set and in full constume, to people who have either "@ replied" on twitter, commented on youtube, or commented on Facebook and more.  There are, as of this writing, well over 150 video responses by Isaiah uploaded over the course of the last two days.  The videos range from flirting with Alyssa Milano to a real wedding proposal. In some cases Isaiah has sent responses that respond to the responses of his first response. In other words (take note fellow marketers) Old Spice is engaging in conversation on a level that has never been done before.

This strategy by Old Spice has propelled them (again, as of this writing) to the #1 Most Visited "channel" on the #2 Most Popular Search Engine (that would be YouTube and is only behind Google) on the web. They have rocketed to the #3 Most Subscribed Sponsor Channel of all time.  In other words, they found a way to attract eyeballs... and KEEP THEM.  

Although Isaiah claims to be "The man your man could smell like" I think in reality he represents "The campaign your campaign would sell like"... that is if they had thought of this first.  Now enjoy the rest of your Thursday with some of Tt(h)B's Favorite Responses below (but be warned, these videos may result in minutes (even hours) of lost time, or even pregnancy):

This talk is easily one of the most powerful, timely, and important talks I have seen come out of TED in a long time.  This sums up just about everything wrong with the spill and where the impact will be felt at all levels.  

The talk is 4 seconds shy of twenty minutes, and it is well worth the watch.