Ali Bytes: Bullet-sized strategies for modern living

In case you missed them…

1. 4 things to know about RSS (and why you should care)
2. 7 pieces of advice for young professionals
3. 10 quotes from Dave Barry’s 2007 year in review
4. 8 pictures from Bombay, India (part one)
5. 8 ugly sweaters from the Delhi airport
6. 4 reasons to pay attention to Apollo Hospital
7. 5 challenges facing India
8. 8 pictures from Bangalore and Delhi (part two)
9. 4 things I’m really good at

And by “worth it” I mean to check it off your Goddard’s list. These are crazy!

1. Space Adventures: For only about $30 million, you can join the Russian Space Agency aboard a Soyuz spacecraft to fly to the International Space Station and join the short list of five other people in history who have flown to space as a paid tourist. Watch this video for more about the 10 day, 3 million mile trip and preparation. A great disappointment is that a “private space explorer,” Mark Shuttleworth (a ridiculously ironic last name), couldn’t do better that this to describe his journey: “An experience like that changes your perspective on life and on the world…” Stay tuned for more as space hotels carve out a new niche in the hospitality industry.
2. Fly naked: For about $735, German travel agency OssiUrlaub.de will book you on a trial nudist day trip from Erfurt, Germany to Usedom, a Baltic Sea resort. Act fast as there are only 55 tickets for the maiden voyage on July 5. The best part is that the managing director says “We’re a perfectly normal holiday company.” If you just can’t believe what you’re reading (and you’re not on your work computer), check out the Naked Air photo album, a remarkably normal depiction of the flight. My burning question is why they only have replaceable sheets over the head area like they have on every other plane. Did no one consider the sanitary complications?

Last night was the first State of the Union in almost a decade that I didn’t watch (though I was out to eat, I promise I was resisting the temptation to celebrate the fact that these were Bush’s final SOTU remarks). Since I used to watch them with pen and paper in hand and talk back at the TV, you might be wondering why I would miss them this year. Part of the reason is that I can get the real story from the reliable headlines the next day.

1. Clinton and Obama nearly collide at Bush speech (Reuters) and Rivals Clinton, Obama united against Bush (Newsday)
2. Bush seems ready to be president he wanted to be (Boston Globe) and Speech signifies lame-duck status (Chicago Tribune)
3. Nothing New for Environment in Bush State of the Union (Environment News Service) and Bush to commit $2 billion to climate change fund (Reuters India)
4. The State of the Union? It’s Fine by the President. (Washington Post) and Bush admits US economy in difficulty in final State of the Union address (EuroNews)
5. Bush Has Weakened the States of Our Union (Yahoo) and For Democrats, a Gleeful State of the Union (New York Times) tied with No apologies in final State of the Union (Los Angeles Times)

Must give credit where credit is due. This great comic is from The Christian Science Monitor posted here.

If I had to pick one word that has stood out in the first 27 days of 2008 it is innovation. Whether it’s about hybrid cars, the Presidential campaigns, how to actually achieve your New Year’s resolution this year, Apple’s latest product, figuring out how to find a date in the District of Columbia, or even doing business in India, everyone seems to be talking about innovation as the key to future sustained success.

When you think about getting the brilliant minds around you together for a little R&D – whether friends or colleagues - consider these barriers to creativity and innovation:

1. Supporting a culture of blame in which someone must be at fault if something goes wrong creates an environment that stifles individual risk taking as people fear making mistakes and getting in trouble.
2. Lack of investment – literally budget or time allocation – to research and brainstorming the next best thing. This is often found in a place that is too focused on process, profit margin and efficiency. Putting money and brainpower into thinking about the future will make sure you get there.
3. Insecurity often leads to a failure to support another’s ideas as they threaten one’s own self worth or position within the company or group of peers. I love the improv (as in comedy) approach to innovation: agree and add.
4. Failure to value diversity ensures you get more of the same. Bring in people with different backgrounds, experiences, personalities, departments, ages, etc. to get as many perspectives and ideas as possible.
5. Rewarding only the things listed in #2 (process, efficiency, profit margin, etc.) will push people to do their job function really well but not look for ways to add to their job function or abilities.
6. Bringing in people that aren’t determined, imaginative and open to learning new things and finding better approaches.
7. Staying stuck on “traditional” ways of doing things or “historical” success makes it difficult to see what could be and likely leads to slow change (if at all). Just because it’s been done that way for 10 or 50 years doesn’t make it the best way to do it.