I was recently talking with a co-worker about cell phones, plans, features, etc.  See, she has teenage children, and we were talking about the needs of parents when it comes to cell phones, plans, and features needed in this day of technology enabled youth.  I’ve got a few kids of my own, and they will soon be approaching the age where my wife and I will have to make a decision on getting my kids phones. With the advances in technology, as well as the concerns about the safety of my children, I wanted to make a list of what I would like to see a carrier create.

Shared Minutes:

While most, if not all, carriers have shared plans, I’d like to see the ability to allocate and share plans amongst the family.  I have three children, all of which will be teenagers at the same time.  I’d like to be able to allocate minutes to devices, or even group the minutes.  Ideally, I’d like to buy a set of minutes for the family, say 3000 minutes.  I’d allocate a group for my kids, and then split the rest for my wife and I.

Text Message Logs:

I know many would tell my I’m invading the privacy of my kids, but I want to know who my kids are texting and what they are saying.  With the new phenomenon of ‘sexting’ coupled with the lack of maturity that comes with the teenage years, there are too many issues that can come up if I don’t have my thumb on the pulse of what is happening in my kids’ lives.  I’d love to see the carriers offer me the ability to download or view online the last 30 days of text messages of any device I specify in my family plan.  I would hope that I have a relationship with my children where I wouldn’t need to view logs to check up on them, however I’m not naive enough to forget how I behaved as a teenager.

GPS Location and Tracking:

It seems like every phone you buy now is GPS enabled.  I’d like to see that put to use for my kids.  I’d like there to be a site I can go to in order to see where my kid’s phones are, and thus where they are.  Call me archaic or controlling, but if my son tells me he is heading to the school for an extra workout with the team, I want to be sure he is there.  The issue here is trust, and that it is earned.  I remember my years as a teenager and I went through stages of being trusted by my parents and then not so much.  This feature would allow me to occasionally check in on where my kids are, and that they are doing what they said they would.  Of course, if this was enabled you would need to remove the option for disabling the GPS on the phone.

Time of day functionality:

I believe this is already available with some carriers, however I’d like to turn on and off features based upon the time of day.  For example, no texting during school hours and between 10 pm and 7 am.  Or, disable the phone during the same time excluding emergency hours.

I’m still a few years away from needing to worry about these features, however I’d like to see a carrier think a bit more about the need of parents when it comes to family plans.  It needs to include more than just shared minutes, but create an opportunity for parents to better control usage

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One of my favorite podcasts is Security Now with Leo Laporte and Steve Gibson.  This past week’s episode (#213) Steve discussed how simple it was to crack GSM.  You can scan through the show notes here. For those who don’t know, GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) is the cell phone technology for over three billion users worldwide, and has 80 percent of the cellphone market spread through 200 countries.  In the US, if you are on AT&T or T-Mobile you are running on GSM.  Obviously, this is a huge target.

By saying “it can be cracked”, I am actually saying that your conversations can be picked up by a radio receiver, decrypted using an open hardware solution that costs less than $1400 and managed with open source software.  This is some really scary stuff.  The GSM Alliance, the group responsible for the GSM standard, is burying their heads in the sand with respect to this breach.  Apparently, the weaknesses of GSM have been known for years, but no one has attempted to resolve them but rather rely upon security through obscurity.

I would suggest downloading the podcast and taking notes.  This could get ugly.

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I got a cold this weekend that the rest of my family has had. I thought I had fought through it and then it hite last night. This sucks…memorial day weekend and all. I’ve got too much to do to be sick. Doesn’t it aleta work that way?

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I stumbled across this article today and found it very interesting.  The idea of wind energy is appealing to me from it’s clean nature as well as the prevalence of wind.  Check out this design.  Should be a no brainer, shouldn’t it?

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Why does the Federal government continue to make stupid choices with taxpayer funds…my money???  If companies don’t run themselves properly, if investors don’t make good investments, why do my tax dollars go to bail them out and put properly run and capitalized companies at a disadvantage?  Check out the article here.

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I have wanted to get a motorcycle for a while now, and though I’m looking more for a cruiser type, this BMW racing bike is pretty incredible.  193 horsepower and a mere 455 pounds.  zero to 62 in 2.9 seconds, and they want to offer it mainstream, competing with other bikes in the $13,000 range.  That is very cool.  Check it out the article as well as the video below.

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Yesterday I started the last class of my MBA course work.  Yes, I know, its about time.  The class is global strategy.  Seemingly an interesting and applicable topic.  However, here is the challenge.  The professor teaching the class has had his PhD since 1975 and has been, essentially, in academia since.  Yesterday he gave us his bio and stated that he had two short stints in the professional world early on in his life but found that the accountability for decisions wasn’t what he was looking for so he returned to academia.  What?!?!  So you feel that because you’ve written, studied, and investigated global strategy, yet have never actually needed to make, implement, and live with strategic decisions you are qualified to teach this class of business executives (it is an executive MBA program) how to make appropriate strategic decisions?  It boggles my mind, and is incredibly frustrating.

My frustration has led me to think about the rest of the business world and how many people, in effect, state “do as I say not as I do or never have done.”  I’ve read a number of business books in the last few months and have been inspired in many ways to make changes in what I do.  However, I do research on the authors of these books, and look at their credentials and touch with reality.  I’m not naive or arrogant enough to think that people can’t teach me if they don’t have more experience than I do.  The are pieces of knowledge and wisdom out there for the taking.  I also recognize there are areas of knowledge that require research and investigation, i.e. economic modeling, chemistry, biology, etc.  However, I do expect that when I seek knowledge I expect to be taught by someone with valuable and applicable knowledge.  The material for this class is primarily made up of books and articles that were written before 1995.  Again, it is a global strategy class.  Please raise your hand if you actually think that global strategy hasn’t changed in the last 10 to 15 years.

Anyway, the point of this rant is be careful where you search for knowledge.  Be sure you have some background.  Just because some knowledge makes you feel good doesn’t mean it is true or valuable.  Buzzwords are far too often taken as knowledge in business.  It’s like fad diets to lose weight quickly, when everyone knows you need to cut calories, eat healthier, and exercise regularly.  There is no substitute for hard work, team cohesion, clear communication, and passion for success.

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I’ve recently been on a business/leadership book binge.  It helps that I listen to audiobooks to and from work.  Check out audible.com, I love their service.  However, I thought I would quickly blog about a few that I have recently completed, some for the second, third, or even fifth time.

First,  Leadership and Self-deception by The Arbinger Institute.  This book is one of the most impacting leadership book I’ve ever read.  It speaks to not what you do but why you do it.  The focus of the book is changing your motives and way of being toward people…recognizing how we are driven and how to improve.  It is an easy read, as the book is written in the story/parable format. I highly recommend the book to anyone looking to improve in their professional or personal life.

The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive by Patrick Lencioni.  I really enjoy Lencioni’s work and have read almost everything he has written.  This book, however, is one of his most impactful.  Again, the book is written in the story/parable format, but the latter fourth of the text is actually instructions on implementing the four obsessions, which are:

1. Build and maintain a cohesive leadership team
2. Create organizational clarity
3. Over-communicate organizational clarity
4. Reinforce organizational clarity through human systems

This book is a “must read”, in my humble opinion, for anyone in an executive position or striving to be an executive.  The first time I read this book I was a project manager for a large financial institution with no direct reports.  Many of the principles didn’t really hit home at the time, but it started the foundation.  I’m now a Vice President of an organization with a reasonably sized team and I see the obsessions in a bit of a different light. 

Pick up these books and check them out.  It won’t be a waste of your time.

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I didn’t vote for the current president.  I don’t like his policies, or economic mentality.  With that said, however, I do hope and pray for him and his administration that they can help this country out of the economic mess that we are in.  However, I don’t think he is going in the right direction.  Articles like this confirm that.  Why would Larry Summers still be in such an influential role when his loyalties obviously lie elsewhere, or at least he is conflicted.  Check this out…

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This article states pretty clearly the insanity that these bailouts with the Troubled Asset Relief Program.  Why do we keep companies and their incompetent managers in business.  This crap about systemic risk and that we can’t afford to let business fail is ridiculous.  I’m not saying that a failure of a company like Citi or B of A wouldn’t cause issues, however aren’t we just pushing out the inevitable.  If the CEOs and board of directors can’t run the company now why will they be able to in the future.  This circumvention of capitalism drives me nuts.  Liquidate the assets to people who can manage them and let’s move on.  Click here to read the article.

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