GoHuman Blog

If you’ve spent some time on GoHuman.com lately, you’ve probably read about our ongoing Flip for Your Community Contest, in which we’re giving away one HD Flip video camera each week to active users on the site.  Pretty cool.

You may have also seen that this camera give-away is a prelude to a related but much larger contest just around the corner – the “I heart local business” million dollar video contest.   More details about this contest are forthcoming, but at a high level, we’re opening up our site for people across the country to post videos about their favorite local businesses, with the top vote-receiving videos receiving valuable prizes.  Again, not too shabby.

Well, this contest excites me not only as a Partner in GoHuman.com, but also as a certified film buff.  I can’t wait to see the visual stories start to roll in, some of them no doubt captured by the very HD Flips we’re giving away right now.  

I also can’t help but throw out a few approaches that you might consider taking in entering this contest.  Indulge me as I try to inspire you to move into pre-production, with the big contest quickly approaching (hey, it’s been pretty slim pickings at the theater lately):

• Go Chaplin.  You’ll probably be filming in color, but you can still stage a video that doesn’t require sound to deliver a punch.  Keep it low-brow comedic but with surprisingly high-brow, poignant overtones.  Consider usage of a funny mustache.
• Go Hitchcock.  In addition to seamlessly structuring your compelling story, you’re going to need a memorable silhouette and the willingness to cameo.
• Go Lynch.  Probably not “Twin Peaks” or “Mulholland Drive” Lynch for this contest… think of “The Straight Story,” his surprisingly heartwarming tale about a guy going cross-county on his riding mower. 
• Go Burton.  Scour your closet for quirky costumes and props.   Cast the business owner as a likable outsider.  And, if possible, get Johnny Depp or Helena Bonham Carter on the line.
• Go Gilliam.  See “Go Burton” above, but ratchet up the quirkiness by a factor of about three hundred.  
• Go Coen.  These directors have historically focused on particular regions of the country and the distinctiveness therein.  Perfect.  Now just grab a sibling, bring them on board, and figure out a way to inject twisted but entertaining dialogue into your story. 
• Go Spielberg.  Who says your video can’t be both well-made and a commercial smash?  You and your favorite business should for the gold (Grand Prize?), but try to keep the budget reasonable.
• Go Moore.   Your favorite business is the protagonist.  That part’s easy.  But you’ve got to stir it up a bit.  Prepare to be thrown out of a corporate lobby in a related field of business.  And don’t forget your ball cap.

Hmm.   On second thought… probably better to just grab your camera and use your own style.  Impromptu or prepared, raw or staged, whatever fits.  In other words… Go Human.

Two weeks down, two HD cameras given away to productive GoHuman.com members! Congrats to Vallea Woodbury in Chicago, our 2nd winner. Hire Vallea to plan your next event.

Vallea believes in the vision of GoHuman.com, and had this to say:

“Gohuman.com is a spectacular resource. Instead of an anonymous yellow pages, it gives local merchants like me a place to advertise in a more personal way that shows potential clients a bit about who I am and gives them an opportunity to see feedback about the way I work. It’s especially an asset for those of us who can’t compete with the marketing campaign budgets of larger businesses.

“On the flip side, I also get to support the people offering services in my area when I need something. It’s a way of building a network of local, quality, business people. In today’s economic environment, this kind of opportunity is extremely important. I can’t wait to see GoHuman.com reach its potential.”

Thanks Vallea! We can’t wait either, and it’s support from people like you that will get us there.

You, too, can Flip for Your Community and win a camera by joining GoHuman.com and posting before Halloween.

As Web development evolves with an increased number of technologies and skilled people, new companies such as Mashery.com are coming online to help companies tap into the teams of independent developers out there that have ideas about how to leverage their products. Most companies simply don’t have the resources or vision to recognize or capitalize on all the opportunities that exist within their networks, products, and technology. Companies that are willing to open themselves up to outside partnerships with shared revenue potential are paving the way for new ways to do business online.

According to Mashery.com, “By publishing your API, you give potential and existing partners the ability to create applications that use your data and engage customers in new ways.”

The trend is clear. Consider the benefits of developing an open platform to which many people can contribute or keep your secrets and watch the Web pass you by. Security and secrecy are, of course, important for any company with proprietary interests, and boundaries must be set. But businesses that have successfully employed open models such as eBay and Apple are reaping the rewards and even seeing a majority of their business created through alternative channels.

We’ve got our first Flip HD video camera winner! Congrats to Tony Odesa of AmeriPro Appliance Repair in Los Angeles. Check out Tony’s listing.

You can Flip for Your Community and win a camera by joining GoHuman.com and posting before Halloween.

Yesterday’s blog covered WFB firing Cheronda Guyton, and my hope that those running the show would be next in line. Today I’m celebrating. Five Bank of America Board Members have been subpoenaed.

The CEO’s boss is the Board of Directors. Their “fiduciary responsibility” is to “increase shareholder value” – which in plain English means “be successfully greedy”. In good times they are, and in bad times they muddle through the fallout of a greed-driven system.

The questions posed to these five people will be related to their acquisition of “troubled investment bank Merrill Lynch & Co.” Many players were involved, including our government. Will we find out what really happened?

Consider! The invisible gray suits pull the strings from behind closed doors, and they write their own minutes.

This much we know. “Merrill, with the knowledge of Bank of America executives” paid “$3.6 billion in bonuses shortly before the deal closed at the beginning of this year.”

I hope the investigation digs deeper. On Independence Day I blogged about my days at Countrywide, and its CEO, Angelo Mozilo, labeled #1 person to blame for the financial system’s meltdown by Time Magazine. I compared Countrywide Culture to the Mafia in a paper for my MBA.

What happened to Countrywide?

Acquired by Bank of America, of course.

Is anyone out there paying attention? How long will we let this game go on?

These gray suits essentially make the rules and print the money. They are among those who convinced America a “Free Market” was good for the economy. Translation? “We’ll make the rules, you’ll believe they’re fair”.

We don’t need free markets, we need transparent markets. You can’t get there from here. We need to change the way our world works.

Have you read that one of our nations largest banks has sacked a Senior Vice President for hosting parties in a house the bank was holding in foreclosure?

The Malibu Beach-front property had reportedly been bought for $12 Million by owners investing with historie’s biggest scam artist, Bernie Maddoff. The Senior VP who was fired is reportedly Cheronda Guyton.

I looked Cheronda up on LinkedIn, but her profile sports only 3 connections. Perhaps if she were more connected online she may have had better sense than to party in a house on which her Bank had foreclosed.

While I feel for her personal loss of a 17 year career, not to mention becoming a pariah, her firing was certainly appropriate. But is she just another Martha Stewart, who was singled out and sent to jail while Bernie Maddoff continued to run rampant all over Wall Street and the country?

According to the LA times Wells Fargo Bank has stated “a single team member was responsible for violating our company policies. As a result, employment of this individual has been terminated.” “We deeply regret the activities that have taken place as they do not reflect the conduct we expect of our team members,” the statement added.

It’s probably true of the specific event. I’ve experienced a variety of Corporate Cultures as a consultant and employee/executive, including Wells Fargo Bank’s. I can’t say I saw evidence of a culture at WFB that would encourage that specific act. Quite the opposite, actually.

My experience in Financial Services companies, however, WFB included, is that they have many layers of management, who pay strict attention to making sure that when things proverbially “hit the fan” they are wearing protective garb. I call it Teflon Management. An SVP, like Cheronda, is not particularly high up in the WFB hierarchy. Those at higher levels are most likely certain that their perks are not of the kind that would have them end up like Cheronda.

So I hope we will continue to see an increase in transparency and accountability for those in positions of power and influence in our large corporations and financial institutions. At levels higher than Cheronda’s.

GoHuman.com seeks to create a culture that has transparent reputation built into its DNA. We’re not launching a classic “top down” capital driven company, which seeks to invest to own and control. We’ve specifically chosen a business model and growth plan that leverages the concept of shared ownership. Get involved, learn what makes us different, and help us spread the word.

And in the meantime, I’d love to hear your opinion on how WFB has handled this situation.

Death is something we usually don’t like to think much about, but I thought it was fitting on the anniversary of 9/11 to highlight friend Gemini Adams’ business and book, Your Legacy of Love, with the message of living consciously. I can’t really say it better than this:

“Award-winning British grief expert, Gemini Adams, gently explains how moms, dads, and grandparents can realize the gift in goodbye, by taking six simple steps to share their wisdom and affection in a legacy of love, so that surviving loved ones will suffer less, when the “worst” happens.

“After losing her own Mom to cancer at a young age Gemini quickly learned that a typical inheritance doesn’t give surviving family, especially children, the ongoing loving support they really need. So, she started a survey asking: ‘If one of your parents died, what would you prefer: to inherit their money, or a letter saying how much they loved you?’

“Over 90% expressed a wish for the loving letter.”

I’m back from L.A. and through the bustle of launching GoHuman.com! Thanks everyone who came to our launch lunch last Friday to enjoy yummy East African food from Industry Cafe and Jazz. Pictured below from left to right are Diana, Virginia, Susan, Aarti, Brendan, and me.

Be sure to check out our Flip for Your Community HD Video Camera Give-Away to help build GoHuman.com in your community.

I read an Associated Press release on Yahoo today that announces the U.S. slipping in global competitiveness to #2.

In 2005 Finland held the top spot, which the U.S. grabbed in 2006, and held on to until edged out by Switzerland this year.

But “Given that the financial crisis originated in large part in the United States, it is hardly surprising that there has been a weakening of the assessment of its financial market sophistication.”

Yep, hardly surprising, but the article fails to mention something that is. Have you spotted it yet?

Here’s another clue. “Singapore came third, followed by Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Japan, Canada and the Netherlands.”

Is it jumping out at you?

Think about the national debate in the U.S. around the economic crisis, and our two-party approach to solving it.

The U.S. likes to paint things black and white. Right and wrong. Left and right. You may have heard critics to the political right of our current President spreading the fear of “creeping Socialism”, claiming that we are trending closer towards an economic and global doomsday because of it.

Without getting into that debate take a look at the current top 10 “strong economies” as listed above. How many of them are considered “Capitalist” vs. “Socialist”? Can you clearly name them, and would others agree with you? Is the answer really as simple as “Capitalism” vs. “Socialism”?

Check out my Independence Day blog for my take on this question.

GoHuman.com offers a model that is outside these labels. Our vision is quite simple. A free, equal access marketplace, based on transparent reputation, to enable a restructuring of our economic system from the ground up.

Further, our business model leverages the latest technologies and trends in a platform that rewards those that contribute value to it. The principles of fairness, equality and integrity are more important to us than amassing wealth and gaining advantage over others.

We know we’ve got a ways to go to achieve this vision and these lofty goals, but we’re putting it out there. We’d also like to know how you think we’re doing.

And, of course, help us spread the word

Swiss Flag

Today is the official launch of GoHuman.com! And what a journey it’s been leading up to this day.

We chose to launch on the 100-year anniversary of Labor Sunday to capture its rich spiritual and educational heritage of celebrating the contribution and strength of workers. Like most national holidays, the commemoration includes the not-so-pleasant circumstances as part of the story. Yahoo.com, for example, led with the article The Sad Story Behind Labor Day. Ouch! It’s not how I want to remember this day. Yet, as the economic meltdown vividly shows, we need to look at its roots and create the solutions.

GoHuman.com is part of the solution, and that’s something you and I can celebrate today. A great way to dispel the darkness is to light a candle, so that’s what I’m doing — inviting friends, family, neighbors and fellow workers to join GoHuman.com. If you haven’t registered yet, please do so today.

Happy Labor Day, and thank you for helping to change the way your world works!