Posts tagged “fortune”

ChittahChattah Quickies

  • [from steve_portigal] Rent a White Guy [The Atlantic] – And so I became a fake businessman in China, an often lucrative gig for underworked expatriates here. One friend, an American who works in film, was paid to represent a Canadian company and give a speech espousing a low-carbon future. Another was flown to Shanghai to act as a seasonal-gifts buyer. Recruiting fake businessmen is one way to create the image—particularly, the image of connection—that Chinese companies crave. My Chinese-language tutor, at first aghast about how much we were getting paid, put it this way: “Having foreigners in nice suits gives the company face.” We were supposedly representing a California-based company that was building a facility in Dongying. Our responsibilities would include making daily trips to the construction site, attending a ribbon-cutting ceremony, and hobnobbing. During the ceremony, one of us would have to give a speech as the company’s director. That duty fell to my friend Ernie. His business cards had already been made. (via @Kottke)
  • [from julienorvaisas] Hey Facebook! Here’s your privacy redesign [Fortune.com] – [The community is now literally begging Facebook to fix this issue. Free design!] We asked several leading user experience designers how they'd overhaul the social network's obtuse privacy settings interface if given the chance. Here, in their own words, are their innovative solutions.
  • [from steve_portigal] For Forgetful, Cash Helps the Medicine Go Down [NYTimes.com] – [The challenge of marketing, design & other forms of corporate persuasion is revealed when you see that people need incentive/motivation to take medication] One-third to one-half of all patients do not take medication as prescribed, and up to one-quarter never fill prescriptions at all, experts say. Such lapses fuel more than $100 billion dollars in health costs annually because those patients often get sicker. Now, a controversial, and seemingly counterintuitive, effort to tackle the problem is gaining ground: paying people money to take medicine or to comply with prescribed treatment. The idea, which is being embraced by doctors, pharmacy companies, insurers and researchers, is that paying modest financial incentives up front can save much larger costs of hospitalization…Although “economically irrational,” Dr. Corrigan said, small sums might work better than bigger ones because otherwise patients might think, “ ‘I’m only doing this for the money,’ and it would undermine treatment.”
  • [from steve_portigal] Creativity thrives in Pixar’s animated workplace [SF Chronicle] – At another company, the employee in Payne's position might be a feared corporate rules-enforcer – the guy who tells you not to put tack holes in the plaster or forbids you from painting over the white walls next to your cubicle. But the architect and 14-year Pixar veteran embraces the madness. Among the more creative additions on the campus: One animator built a bookcase with a secret panel – which opens up into a speakeasy-style sitting area with a card table, bar and security monitor. Other employees work in modified Tuff Sheds, tricked out to look like little houses with front porches and chandeliers. "Sometimes I just have to let go," Payne says with an amused sigh, as he walks into a newer building with a high ceiling – where someone has interrupted the clean sightlines with a wooden loft. A couch and a mini-refrigerator are balanced 10 feet above the floor. [Did a mini-ethnography of Pixar a few years ago and the cultural factors around creativity and community were outstanding]

Interview Request for “Leaders in Business Innovation”

This is a pretty hilarious scam. I know many of you have seen this, but I had to share. What is up with the FORTUNE brand? Such whores!

Dear Steve,
In current business conditions, most companies see a need for greater efficiency and effectiveness according to a study by Accenture Management Consulting, “The Innovator’s Advantage – using innovation and technology to improve business performance”.

As a producer for the Business and Technology Report on the “FORTUNE In-Flight Radio” Channel, I am personally extending an invitation for Portigal to be featured on our special in-flight radio broadcast of the “Leaders In Business Innovation” airing worldwide April 2007.

On this show, we will be interviewing corporate leaders of innovative businesses today and discussing topics surrounding: What tools, techniques and resources have helped in creating an innovative company? How has innovation delivered long-term value and competitive advantage to your organization? What systems are important for supporting innovation?

For helping us wrap-up the show and meet our invitational list deadline, we are offering our last two segments at a substantial discount- Instead of the normal rate card of $ 6,995, your discounted cost is only $2,995. This includes everything from scripting to production, placement of 3-minute interview on 2,880 flights to 700,000 thousand passengers, listing in Northwest World Traveler In-flight magazine, and rebroadcast rights for promotional uses.

We’d like to interview you for our show. The charge will be $2,995. Um, you want me to pay you? I guess that’d be an ad, then, wouldn’t it?

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