Kimberly N. West - Blog, Blog, Blog...

MC Hammer Reinvents Himself As A What?!?

It's rare that I post twice in a month much less twice in one day.  But this was too good to pass up.

I was on the phone with my buddy Brent Leary who is a well known blogger, Web 2.0 expert, radio and podcasting personality and all around good guy.  He also keeps me up to date with all that is going on in the Web 2.0 world.  He was looking for his column on Black Enterprise's web site when he started laughing.  The conversation went something like...

Kimberly: What's so doggoned funny?
Brent: MC Hammer is now the co-founder and chief strategy officer of a new web venture called dancejam.com
Kimberly: <silent for about 20 seconds and blinking rapidly>
Brent: Are you still there?
Kimberly: Uh, yeeeaaahhh?  forgive me but I don't think of MC Hammer when I think of Internet strategy
Brent: Me neither
Kimberly: Oh, OK, you got jokes now.  Stop playing Brent.
Brent: I'm serious, go to BE's web site, it's the most read story today. 

As he went on to read the rest of the article it felt like my brain was on fire and I couldn't stop laughing.  As I gathered my wits about me and picked my jaw up off the floor I ran to my computer to pull up the article.  There, sure enough, was an article entitled: MC Hammer's Next Act: Tech Entrepreneur.

The article went on to briefly describe Hammer's music career then went into detail about this web venture and Hammer's partners.  Apparently Hammer has had his own personal tutors in the ways of technology from Ron Conway to the staffs at Apple Computer and Silicon Graphics.  Even Salesforce.com guru and CEO Marc Benioff is quoted as saying that Hammer is the most entrepreneurial person he's ever met and admitted that he had consulted with Hammer for low cost marketing ideas when Salesforce.com was in it's infancy.

As Judge Judy would say, this just doesn't have the ring of truth to it.

Don't get me wrong, anyone can learn the Internet and Web 2.0 with some coaching and Hammer just might be an expert in geurilla marketing.  However I, and several technology colleagues all with technical certifications and one or more graduate degrees, just can't seem to wrap our brains around this venture.  One of them, a web analytics specialist and MBA, almost needed oxygen after he read the article.  All this consternation is further compunded by the fact that Hammer and entourage are looking to upstage YouTube and there were some pretty hefty comments in the article...

"The Web site, scheduled to debut in mid-January, will try to upstage YouTube and become the Internet's hub for sharing and watching dance videos."

"There is no high-tech lingo or business strategy that you can talk that is above my head," Hammer boasted during an interview. "I breathe this stuff."

"His success in grass roots marketing prompted Salesforce.com Inc. to call on Hammer for advice in its early days. The company wanted to raise awareness about its online software service without paying a lot for traditional advertising, said Marc Benioff, Salesforce.com's chief executive officer."

"We really learned a lot from Hammer. He is the most entrepreneurial individual I have ever met," said Benioff, whose San Francisco-based company is now worth $7 billion.

"Hammer recognized YouTube's potential before most people he did. Besides putting some of his own clips on the site, Hammer visited YouTube's offices in February 2006 when there were still just a handful of people running the site above a pizza parlor. (A clip of that visit is at http://www.youtube.com/blog?month2&year2006.)"

Could Hammer be an undercover techie?  Have we discounted his prowess as an Internet marketing strategist?   Are we being snobbish because we've been in the business for so long?  Have we all gone stark raving mad?  Conventional wisdom indicates that even Forrester Research analysts doubt that this venture will have any real impact on YouTube.  Only time will tell.

I wish Hammer all the luck and blessings in the world.  If he turns out to be a legitimate strategist and ends up with a successful venture, I apologize for the tone of this blog.  However, the jury seems to be against him and I still can't talk about it with a straight face.

At the end of our conversation, Brent and I both decided to blog on this topic.  To make sure we didn't duplicate any material we didn't read each other's entries until after we had written our own.  I am off to read Brent's entry for this evening and can guarantee that it will be a 'stone gas'.

Ruminating On Turning 40 Or Why Am I Getting These Darned Emails From AARP?

The first one arrived about four months ago.  It was an invitation to join AARP.  I laughed it off.  Must be some kind of random email blast.  Three weeks later I received another one, a month later, and finally, one today.  Is someone trying to tell me something?  I was almost offended.  Hell, I'm only one month away from my 39th birthday - nowhere near the 50 years of age that is the requirement for AARP membership. 

Now my mother has always said that I'm an old soul.  I'll be honest, ever since I was a little girl, I've always wanted to be 35 or 40.  To me, that is when life truly blossomed and all the time you spent before that was in preparation for this incredible life-changing experience.  The world would open up and become this sweet, succulent, ripe fruit just yours for the taking.  I even had a theory on the evolution of a Diva.  From birth to 25 you're an infant.  From 26 to 30 you're a Diva in training.  From 31 to about 35/36 you're a Diva apprentice and somewhere between 35 and 40 you reach full Diva status.  Everything I thought about getting older and approaching Divadom has turned out to be true... But that sure as hell didn't prepare me for receiving invitations to join AARP at 38.

I don't know what it was but something told me to go to the AARP web site and just take a look around.  Giggling, I looked at the different discounts and benefits that are available to AARP members.  Then I started looking at the articles and the assistance that is available to AARP members.  It became crystal clear that we of Generation X and those that came after us are blissfully and painfully unaware of what is ahead of us as we approach middle age and retirement.  To all my GenXers, do you have the slightest idea what Medicare part D is?  You'd better figure it out!  Do you know how much money it will take to maintain your current or desired standard of living after retirement?  You better start doing the math NOW!  Do you have any clue about secondary insurance markets, how many of our elderly have to maintain jobs because they were unable to sustain themselves on pensions and Social Security or the legislation that's currently going on in Washington DC that directly effects those over 50? Did you know that doctors are leaving the Medicare program in droves because of their reimbursement rates being cut?  What about the fact that Social Security doesn't pay JACK and that it is estimated that by the time I retire the funds will be depleted (so should I stop paying into a system that will not support me later?  We'll save that for another blog).  Have you thought about the cost of blood pressure, diabetes, heart, etc., etc., medication?  Have you thought about any of this or do you secretly think that you're invincible and will never have to encounter these issues.  WAKE THE HELL UP.

Why, at 38, am I so concerned about these issues now?  What happens from now to 2017 will have a tremendous effect my and future generations as we age and retire, and we're not paying attention.  I'm one of the lucky ones.  I get professional financial advice and have made provisions for my life after 50 but what about the majority of us who haven't.  As Baby Boomers age and usurp the resources that three or four generations have paid in to and we all age, what will be left for us?  Will legislation be created that will protect all of us or just a few? 

The journey into AARP's web site was an eye opening one.  Everyone, regardless of age, should take a look and educate themselves.  The only inevitable factors in life are birth, aging, death and the IRS.

Am I paranoid?

This morning I was walking into a client's office which happens to be a large transit company in a metropolitan city.  As I was about to walk through the automatic double doors a gentleman stopped me and asked if I worked for this transit company.  I replied yes.  He asked if I would take an large manila envelope inside for him and run it up to accounting.

Big

Red

Flag

In milliseconds my mind went through a series of thoughts:  1. Why can't you take it upstairs? 2. What's in the envelope?  3. Why are you asking me?  4. Security should be able to take care of that.  5. Where is your employee ID?  6. Could that be a bomb?  7. Could that be anthrax?  When I finally regained my composure I let this person know that I would not be able to help with his request and that he should seek assistance from the security guard at the front desk.  He said OK as he departed.  He never tried to speak to the security guard.

I was left wondering, would I have reacted with such almost rude suspicion before 9/11?  It didn't matter what race he was, or that he had on a nice suit or that he was rather polite.  All that mattered was that envelope, the contents and why he couldn't take it in himself.

Like many, 9/11 had a profound effect on me.  I lost friends, colleagues and memories when the towers came down.  In the mid 90s I worked across the street from the NY Stock Exchange.  For a little extra exercise I would take the subway to the Towers stop, drop of shoes to be repaired or clothes to be cleaned, grab a bagel with cream cheese and a cup of coffee (official NYC breakfast) from my favorite sidewalk guy and walk to work.  From 1998 until 2001 I flew to anywhere in the world that tickled my fancy, on a whim.  That has changed drastically.  On 9/11 my favorite Mexican restaurant was destroyed and one of my favorite places to shop was obliterated.  The place where my then boyfriend proposed to me is gone, international travel has slowed to a trickle and  I still can't bring myself to go down to lower Manhattan when I visit New York.

The experiences of that day have made us all more careful in our daily dealings.  However, I was never more concious of how 9/11/2001 effected me until, on May 10, 2007, this gentleman asked me to perform the simple act of taking an envelope into a building and I refused.  The entire interaction took less than 15 seconds and I had to ask myself...

Am I paranoid?