Conversation Agent - Valeria Maltoni

Ends, Beginnings, the Dangerous Effects of Reading, and Too Much Buzz

To conclude this year's business and technology trends, I found a couple of posts that sum up nicely both where we've been and where we're going as we head into 2012. Whether we believe in calendar year distinctions, everything in life is a cycle with an end and a beginning. Wherever we come from and whereto we're going, at any point in time, there we are. Ends, beginnings, the dangerous effects of reading, and too much buzz Is a fitting title for a year end post. I've long mused on the dangers of analysis paralysis and inflating expectations. My take... Read more →

Thank You - 2011

I like to thank people frequently and creatively throughout the year. Especially clients. It's not unusual to receive home baked goods, advance copies of books, cards, and more as appropriate and relevant from me. In fact, some have remarked I have such good taste, I need to share more of the things I like. Which is what I'll be doing on Pinterest (more on that in a later post). There's something special in keeping with tradition. It's not about the calendar. That's an artificial construct. It's about acknowledging and celebrating the contributions of all the individuals that make up a... Read more →

Big Picture Listening as Model of Influence

One thought I had this morning as I was re-reading my own blog post from a couple of days ago is that although everyone talks about how valuable listening is, few are willing to acknowledge it as a skill. Fewer yet are prepared to reward it... isn't there even a saying that says we're prepared to kill the messenger? When paired with remembering, listening is akin to honoring. Which gets us back to closing the gap between promises made and promises delivered. I had this G+ exchange with Jan Hemmingsen. He says, "The problem is mostly that the communication doesn't... Read more →

A Textbook Example of Deliberately Breaking Promises to Customers

The headlines Go Daddy, the prominent Internet domain registry, is still supporting the Stop Online Piracy Act… sort of, kind of [source: ZDNet] Due to the company's ambiguous stance on the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), hosting and domain registrar company Go Daddy has lost more than 37,000 domains in the past two days. [source: VentureBeat] An effort by GoDaddy customers to boycott the domain registrar over its support for Hollywood-backed copyright legislation has sparked allegations of foul play. [source: CBSNews] The Webs registrars weave It's actually not just GoDaddy that behaves this way. They just got caught with their... Read more →

Publicity Stunts and When the Messenger is Your Message

This looks like so much fun. Hard work, sure. But blazingly cool. The article about the rise of the Paris bike messenger caught my eye. My mode of transport used to be a bicycle when I lived in Italy. It was my mother's bike when she was a kid, a full size beauty I sanded and hand painted white in my teens. I installed a basket up front so could carry a modest load of fresh produce and cheese from the open market. A satchel across and to the side, and I was all set. That's how I built my... Read more →

Best of Cinematography 2011

A couple of nights ago I watched The Natural (1984) again. I didn't watch it because it's been called one of the best baseball movies ever made. I watched it because I really liked the story. There is one line in the movie that stayed with me when I first watched it. It's delivered by Glenn Close/Iris to Robert Redford/Roy in the hospital toward the end of the movie. She tells him her theory that people have two lives: the life they learn with and the life they live after that. Redford/Hobbs delivers another line in that exchange, he hopes... Read more →

Have a Merry Christmas

I was in New York City a couple of weeks ago with a few minutes to explore and thought of looking in the Public Library. I usually walk briskly by it on may way to or from a meeting. It was warm, quiet, and tastefully decorated, as you can see in this photo I snapped with my iPhone. I welcomed the atmosphere in the midst of a fifth avenue busy with shoppers and more colorful decorations. It invited quiet reflection. I also noticed something else there -- without the use of smartphones inside, people were making eye contact. Technology is... Read more →

Digital as Body Language, Content as Style

Savvy businesses are benefiting from the generous amount of time people are spending online. Thanks to technology, every day can lead to a cyber Monday. We're now seeing the convergence of online access with offline availability, and the blending of personal and business in social networks. The maturity of digital and social media is showing, even as it's still unevenly distributed. We're not there when it comes to conversation just yet. It's still very much about social gestures (shares/likes/+1), content, and comments. With maturity comes a shift where technology fades in the background, and what people want to do comes... Read more →

Connections Are... the Gift You Cannot Wait to Give

[John Lewis Christmas Advert 2011 - 1:30] Your turn. Connections are... Read more →

Second Chances

When I came to the US many years ago, I expected to stay only six months. It was all I was contracted for and it felt like a dream come true nonetheless. A dream I had had since the tender age of six, when I published my first poems. Things don't always turn out the way we expect. I worked harder and longer than I could have ever imagined, and I was able to make those six months stretch into six years... and the rest is history, as they say. This post is about how breakthroughs can happen with very... Read more →