"I love box of chocolates"

2022-05-09 15:53:57

HomeArchivesSpeaking & TrainingAboutContactDerek Featherstone's Box of Chocolates: You never know what you're going to getIf you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!Wednesday, December 26th, 2012 - 7:40pmWhat Sales and Marketing is All AboutIt’s holiday time around here and I just spent a good two hours watching “The Pirates of Silicon Valley.” I watched it several years ago and remembered it to be decent, though I don’t necessarily know how historically accurate it is. I found the story itself to be kind of inspiring in that whole “start-up in a garage” kind of way.Very early on in the movie, Anthony Michael-Hall who plays Bill Gates gets on a phone call with Ed Roberts (computer engineer, creator of the Altair), and just as he’s about to take the phone call, he turns to Steve Ballmer (Developers! Developers! Developers!) and Paul Allen (co-founder of Microsoft) and says about the call:It’s our job to find out what this guy doesn’t know that he needs… but does need. And then make sure he knows that he does need it and that we’re the only ones to give him the answer.If that doesn’t say enough about what marketing and sales is all about, I don’t know what does.Tagged with: business marketing sales thinking aloudPermalinkNo CommentsRecent PostsIndulgenceBack from UX Lisbon 2012, I’m thinking of the indulgences afforded me as a speaker and I’m very grateful. May 22, 2012Tagged with: business conferences speakingTracking the Spread of IdeasThe strength of a social networking site is its connections. If we don’t can’t see those connections or don’t have a mechanism to explore new connections, the social networking site has failed in at least one of its goals. Some simple changes to core functionality will help social networking sites like LinkedIn, Facebook and Google+ improve the quality of their networks. October 13, 2011Tagged with: design interface LinkedIn social networkStarting at the endI love the concept of backcasting. I’m going to have to try to do it more at work, at home, and with my kids. I think it would help all of us to succeed. September 20, 2011Tagged with: beginnings business successKudos and ThanksI was very excited and proud to see my latest article go live at A List Apart: ARIA and Progressive Enhancement. With many thanks to our team and especially to Jason Kiss for his research, code and feedback along the way. December 1, 2010Tagged with: accessibility ARIA progressive enhancement thanksSpeaking & Training