January 1, 2019
“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself, any direction you choose.” ~Dr. Seuss Pillsbury, known for dough, has been piping the smells of freshly baked cinnamon rolls into selected theaters across the country—a campaign designed to get movie-goers to purchase cinnamon rolls during the holidays. The scent …
December 1, 2018
“It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment.” ~Ansel Adams Just in case you missed the recent announcement: IFAI’s offices in Roseville, Minn., have just installed solar energy panels on the (flat) roof to reduce energy usage, and possibly even sell some of it back to the grid. …
November 1, 2018
“It is the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) that those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.” ~Charles Darwin We’ve reached my annual time-travel episode, at least in terms of my message to you this issue, which will be written before IFAI Expo but read after the show. Sometimes …
October 1, 2018
“The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me?” ~Ayn Rand The first time Minnesota hosted a Super Bowl, it was January 26, 1992. The Washington Redskins met the Buffalo Bills at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome for Super Bowl XXVI, with the Redskins on top 37–24. The …
September 1, 2018
Networking is not about just connecting people. It’s about connecting people with people, people with ideas, and people with opportunities. Michele Jennae, author of The Connectworker Shared success This year’s IFAI Expo is shaping up to be an exceptionally dynamic show, as we work to keep pace with the lively and growing industrial textile industry …
August 1, 2018
You want to know what to buy? The business that makes an object of desire is now the worst source of information about it. The best source is all of us. Doc Searls, David Weinberger, Two “Cluetrain Manifesto” authors, Jan. 2015 Communication is content. Markets are conversations. Electronics are (nearly) ubiquitous. And Generations Y and …
July 1, 2018
It was probably a $200 billion mistake. After that, we made a rule: No more meetings in the bathroom. ~Michael Eisner, former CEO, Disney Recently, my book club was discussing the merits of the book “Exit West” by Mohsin Hamid, which portrays the adventures of a couple (and a world) escaping from a war-torn and …
June 1, 2018
If your business proposition is innovative, your ultimate goal has to be ‘The customer always thinks that WE are right.’ ~Richard Branson Back in February 1997, before my editorial advent at IFAI, the Industrial Fabric Products Review cover was graced with a simple shot of a computer, in ominous dark purple and glowing green …
May 1, 2018
Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire. ~ Gustav Mahler I can’t help but date myself if I tell you that when I started working at IFAI in 1988, staff were still allowed to smoke in the office, we had a fax machine that was so large it had its …
April 1, 2018
Pessimists have already begun to worry about what is going to replace automation. ~John Tudor If any of you watched the “X-Files” episode in early March entitled “Rm9sbG9eZX.Jz” and are still happily chatting with Alexa … your intrepid nature is an inspiration. The program basically depicted Mulder and Scully having dinner in a completely automated …