If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
The entire world stops today, almost all news streamlines into one story (with the exception of a terrible plane crash/act of domestic terrorism in Texas.)
Everything has shut down now, as the world waits… Waits… Waits for the Tiger… not to Roar, but to meekly crawl out of his den, wring his hands, shuffle around, apologize, and ask for forgiveness.
At least, that’s the script he’ll stick to.
In real life? Tiger is sleeping like a baby tonight, the night before he hits the public and the media for the first time since his encounter with a tree, a five-iron to the head, and a dozen or so women.
Why? Because it comes down to this:
We need Tiger a lot more than Tiger needs us.
Think about it: His press conference tomorrow is so coordinated and scripted, calling it a press conference is like calling Guantanamo Bay “open court sessions.” The media isn’t even allowed into the SAME ROOM as him! They’ll be in a bunker next door, while Tiger reads a statement.
Not while he takes questions, because he won’t. Not while he’s asked anything as he leaves the room – because no one will be there.
This is the Tiger Show, a stunt produced by the PGA and his agent and management firm. And we’re all buying into it.
End result: Tiger is an amazing, amazing golfer. And tomorrow, he’s going to get up on stage, tell the world he’s sorry, and wants to focus on his golfing. Then he’ll go back to playing in tournaments, he’ll go back to winning, and the second a reporter dares cross the line and ask him a question outside of his putting game, that reporter will lose all access to Tiger forever. And every other reporter in the world who still has access will just crowd in a little bit more.
The media is all worried about what Tiger is going to say – How is he going to say it? Is he worried? Is he sleeping well?
Please – Tiger’s sleeping without a care in the world. Tiger is plotting his return, and Tiger, from a media, branding, and YES, even sponsorship perspective, has absolutely nothing to worry about. If Tiger is still on his golf game, and there’s no reason to think he’s not, Tiger will still reign supreme, will either get back all his sponsors, or get a ton of new ones, and life will continue to go on for him. His golf ball world will continue to spin, he’ll continue to rake in the cash. As to what happens to him and his wife and his mistresses privately? I have no idea – and none of us will have any idea – And that’s just what Tiger wants.
“Go on. Be a Tiger,” says one of Tiger’s ads. Fact is, love it or hate it, he’s doing exactly that, and mark my words – Despite whether you love him or loathe him, Tiger Woods is going to come out a thousand times stronger when this is done. These few months were nothing more than a vacation from him. And now he’s back, tan, rested, and ready. Watch out.
Posted on February 18th, 2010 5:21 pm with 133 Comments »
Filed under Branding Business Celebrity Industry Marketing Media Not Necessarily PR Promotion Rumor Social Media Sports Stunts Television Viral Marketing
Tagged with
TrackBack URL for this entry is http://shankman.com/why-a-tiger-is-sleeping-like-a-baby-tonight/trackback/
First off – This isn’t some Tim Ferris garbage about how you can live on an island and only work between 5:48pm and 5:49pm. If you don’t love what you do, this isn’t going to help you, stop reading now, as geographic location is the least of your worries.
I LIKE work. Hell – I LOVE what I do. I’m fortunate enough to have a good paying career in an industry that I love. I supplement my main career with a speaking career that’s quickly becoming a second full-time career – Finally, I consult to companies all around the world on marketing, social media, and customer service. So believe me – I’m busy. But the difference here, is that I’m busy from anywhere I WANT to be. That’s the ADHD version of this blog post – and what I hope you’ll take away from it: You too can work just as hard, or just as little – as you always have – But you can do it from wherever you want. Yes, you. YOU. Specifically. Yes. You.
Because to be honest, I can’t imagine anything scarier than waking up on my deathbed, wondering where my life went outside of the office.
I started my trip a few weeks ago in Omaha, Nebraska, keynoting a conference. From there, I flew to Miami to run the Miami ING Half Marathon, then, after a day of meetings in Miami, headed to Nashville, TN, where I spoke at another conference. From Nashville, I flew to New York City for one evening, and then boarded a flight from Newark to Los Angeles, where I connected on a Qantas flight to Sydney, Australia. I’ve just spent the past seven days down under, both for meetings and pleasure, and I’m now writing this on a flight from Brisbane, Australia, back to Los Angeles, where I’ll connect to New Orleans to cover Mardi Gras for 72 hours, then fly to Newark, onto Frankfurt, wake up on the plane in the morning to connect to another eight-hour flight to Bangalore, India, where I’ll be speaking at a conference. I’ll be home on or around the 23rd of February for about two days, after which, I’ll fly to Sacramento, CA, to speak at an SPSA event, then fly to LA for meetings with several film and TV agents. I’ll be home again Saturday, the 27th, to enjoy my first weekend in my apartment in approximately a month, prepared to defend myself against a 24-hour assault of “where were you? We’re hungry. Pay attention to us” from two overweight cats, looked after by both my wonderful assistant Meagan, and from time to time, my mother.
Over the entire month of this massive trip, I never once went into an “office” to work. Yet, I launched the new HARO, sold over $50k of advertising on the new site, accepted seven new keynote speech requests, two consulting jobs, and sent presents to three people, two for birthdays, and one as a thank you.
Additionally, I paid all my bills, from my rent and mobile bills, to my incredibly overpriced attorney. I signed my lease renewal forms (after negotiating a substantial rate decrease over the phone) and was able to have a prescription faxed to a pharmacy a block away from a hotel in which I was staying.
I didn’t miss an episode of 24, Burn Notice, or Dollhouse thanks to iTunes subscriptions, and I followed the Superbowl from 12,000 miles away on my Blackberry, getting as frequent updates as I would if I was in my office during the game.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Geography has officially died and been reborn. Let us mourn it briefly, and move the hell on. Good riddance to the old, I say.
Work geography is dead. Long live Life Geography.
What follow are the new rules of Geography – How to live, work, and play, while being as mobile as you want – from one day a month out of the office, to deciding to take four weeks and work from Whitsunday, QLD, as I’m contemplating doing sometime later this year.
Rule One: In 2010, no one gives a damn where you are, and rightfully so.
I had a phone call with a HUGE potential HARO partner while I was in Sydney. I held the conference call at three in the morning, from my desk in my hotel room, via Skype. My COO was in Scottsdale, Arizona. The only reason anyone on the call knew where I calling from was because they followed my blog. One of them said he was amazed I was on the call, to which I replied, “I’m surprised you’re in your office – I hear it’s snowing something fierce in Chicago.”
The rise of the mobile revolution has given us tremendous power. You think the Blackberry is an electronic leash, and the mobile phone a tool to keep an eye on you? You’re thinking about it totally, totally wrong. These are the tools of freedom, like a pick-axe or overturned verdict is to a convict. The fact is, the majority of bosses do not care from where you work, as long as the work gets done, on time, and exceeding the quality expected. One of my editors, Laura Spaventa, was producing the HARO out of her parents’ place in Philly. She’s since moved to New York City, living on her own for the first time. The only reason I even know this? Meagan reminded me to buy her a housewarming gift. She’s never slacked off on her work, her work quality continues to get better, and for all I know, she could be producing the HARO with Ariel, under the sea. It doesn’t matter to me, as long as she gets it done, which she does, perfectly. She has a Mac, a wireless card, and power. That’s all she needs. Location is irrelevant.
If your boss doesn’t agree with this, perhaps it’s time to find a new boss. Remember the wonderful quote: “If you can’t change the people around you, change the people around you.”
How to convince your boss…
If you work for someone else, the key is under-promising and over-delivering. Your goal is to prove that you’re so valuable, your work so awesome, that it doesn’t matter from where you do it. In fact, you want to prove that you’re even MORE valuable when you’re let go from your office chains – You’re more creative, more aware of deadlines, more able to get done that which needs doing when you’re NOT bound to a desk in an office park. Some easy ways to ease your boss into it without him or her knowing he or she is being eased:
a) Start producing your work and emailing at different times of the day. Project due at 5pm on Thursday? Submit it via email at 3:45am on Wednesday. When you walk into the office in the morning, casually mention to your boss that the project is in his email, waiting for him.
b) Start setting up more video calls, less in-person meetings. The more you can get people used to not physically sharing the same space with you, the less they’ll care when you’re not actually there, but rather, calling in from Pongo Pongo.
c) Start small: Get an afternoon project out of the way in the morning, and spend your lunch hour in a spin class, or a run around the local park or gym. Come back a little bit later – End result is, the afternoon project was already done light years ago, right? Take your berry, but chances are, you won’t need it.
d) Email, email, email. Instead of popping down the hall to Bob’s office, shoot a quick note, drop an IM, a BBM, again, anything that doesn’t require your physical appearance.
e) This is key: When you DO make an appearance, make sure you’re noticed. Remember – You’re working just as hard as everyone else – probably harder –yet there will ALWAYS be some dumbass in the office that notices that you’re not there as much, and tries to give you hell for it. Your goal is to counter by again, over-delivering. Try “Hey boss, while I was skiing this weekend, I had a few hours by the fire to look over those financial statements and noticed a few spots where we could tighten and save the company some cash. I’ll email them over to you later – I guess a fireplace just makes it easier for me to work.”
You’ll never convince everyone that working out of the office is for them. Your job is to make it clear that it’s for you. Screw them.
Rule 2: Even the Aborigines have mobile broadband.
Mobile Internet is everywhere. I mean, everywhere. Next month, Continental Airlines is rolling out GoGo inflight internet, becoming yet another of a growing number of major carriers to offer Internet in the air. Laptop 3G and 4G cards are available on incredibly cheap plans, ($50 a month, give or take) and they work virtually everywhere, as well. What can’t you do from a coffee shop in Berlin that you can do in the office? Seriously. Tell me in the comments, and I’ll tell you why you’re wrong. The only answer I’ll accept is “shake someone’s hand” – and I’ll get to that later.
When I was in Asia last year, I discovered something awesome – AIM, Google Chat and the like, all work on your blackberry or iPhone. Just keep yourself logged in. Respond if you have to, just like you would at a desk.
Rule 3: You’re not as damn important as you think you are.
Rule 3 corollary: If your Blackberry is shut off for seven hours, the world will continue to spin.
This Australia trip was one of the first times I actually went truly off the grid for periods of time greater than the time it takes me to ride the A train from Columbus Circle to West 4th Street. It’s kinda hard to thumb while rappelling down a waterfall or snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef, and so, for the first time, I didn’t. (I know at least three people who are jumping up and down right now and shouting praise to the heavens after reading that.) I got to the start of the reef tour at 7:15am (5:15pm New York time) and shut off my berry around 8:30am, when I lost signal. I didn’t turn it on again until around 5pm, (2am EST) – I had about 30 emails that came in during that time. I replied to the ones that mattered, and no one felt like they weren’t being taken care of because I took a few hours to reply.
Truth be told, this is probably the hardest rule to swallow, especially for die hard connected thumbers like me. If we can’t tweet it, it didn’t happen. If we can’t Facebook it, it doesn’t exist. If the email comes in and we can’t answer it within four seconds, it won’t matter.
To an extent, I still believe that – But I’m getting better. Just because I’m off the grid for seven hours or so, doesn’t mean I can’t post the photos, tweet the funny story, or answer the email the second I come back into range. I tried it on this trip. Holy cow, was it freeing. I mean, really, really freeing. You know what it’s like to not be afraid to get soaked by a wave from your boat because you don’t have anything electronic on you? IT’S FREAKING AWESOME!
Rule 4: If you really need to shake someone’s hand, then armed with nothing more than a credit card, you can truly be anywhere in the world, from anywhere in the world, in less than 29 hours, and usually, in much less time than that.
I left New York City on a 3:30pm flight to LAX, arriving six hours later. I had a three-hour layover (where I could email and work) and then a 15-hour flight to Sydney. 24 hours total, 21 of which I was incommunicado. Within a year, all airlines will have wi-fi, so those 21 hours won’t matter anyway.
You need to be somewhere else tomorrow to solve a major crisis that just popped up? Doesn’t matter where in the world you are – if you need to be, you can be. It’s that simple. Show up at the airport, ask the first gate agent you see to help you plot a course – or – even smarter, have a credit card with a travel concierge, who will do it for you, for no additional charge, even before you leave wherever you happen to be. These people route other people for a living – They’ve gotten me connections that I didn’t even know EXISTED. They’re like FedEx Human Transport – They can get you where you need to go, when you absolutely, positively, have to get there overnight.
The crisis that really isn’t: When you snorkel and watch fish, you have a lot of time to think. I imagined a crisis brewing while I was out of contact. Let’s say it was 2pm. I’d be back on land by 4:30pm. If something happened, I could catch the 6:50pm from Whitsunday Airport, landing in Brisbane at 8pm, then I could work all night, and if I really, really needed to, could grab the first Qantas into LA the next day. And chances are, I could solve whatever crisis occurred from my hotel room, using Skype and email. Think about it – Really think about it – When was the last time your physical presence was truly, TRULY required to solve a problem? You see all the movies where the boss or head of whatever jumps out of the helicopter that just landed on the roof, and is being briefed as he’s walking down the stairs to the boardroom. If you’re really that important, chances are you have a full office on your private jet, and don’t need to read my blog.
Rule 5: A conference room looks the same, whether in Boston or Bali, Brisbane or Bangalore.
I know this for a fact. Based on the rules above, if you’re somewhere you’ve never been, take a few extra hours, hell, a few extra days, to explore. Why rush home? You’re already in the new place! Why waste it?! Full disclosure – I used to! I’d rush to the airport and head to the security of the President’s Club lounge – I felt safe there, wouldn’t miss my flight, etc.
What’s the point? Why not take a few hours and do something? Almost every city or town, at the very least, has a walking tour, a downtown tour, an anything tour – It’s something to do, you can learn a bit more – and you leave a bit more fulfilled then when you got there. At the very least, find a new jogging trail and go explore. The only thing I’ve ever learned at the President’s Club is which people talk the loudest on their cell phones.
Rule 6: Entrench yourself with the tools, and life becomes cream cheese.
These are my tools. They allow me to work anywhere in the world, at any time, day or night. You might use some, or all, or different ones. (If you have ones I’m missing, tell me in the comments.) Most of them are technical in nature, but not always. Some are basic things that you never associated with the way I’m going to explain them – some are common sense. For more specific tips on how I travel, see my post from last year: “Tools of my Travel Trade.” And of course, these are in no particular order.
a) Worldwide mobile phone with data and voice (AT&T seems to have the most decent coverage overseas for now.)
b) Laptop that works everywhere, and is strong enough to put up with my daily abuse
c) World-wide current converter
d) My Canon G10, Flip HD, and Panasonic HDC-HS300
3) A Timex Ironman watch with multiple city settings. I always keep #1 on NYC time. #2 is where I am. It makes me feel like I’m never far from what I know.
f) Ogio backpack and luggage
g) Scott-e-Vest for travel and getting stuff through security
h) Skype
i) $100 in local currency. This helps more than you could ever know – Will get you back to the airport quicker, too.
j) FourSquare and Twitter – I met someone in Manly Beach, Sydney, that I never met before. We were in the same bar in the same hotel, and found it out via FourSquare and Twitter.
Bottom line? This can be done. You can work from anywhere. You can love what you do, and do it from a place you love. I’m living proof.
Do you do it? Have you done it? Tried to do it? Leave suggestions or stories in the comments – Top two win – One an Ogio bag, and one a Scott–e-vest.
Posted on February 14th, 2010 12:26 pm with 122 Comments »
Filed under Business Conferences/Trade Shows/Summits Contests Current Affairs Finances Images From The Road Networking/Social Networking Not Necessarily PR Personal Pop Culture Travel Uncategorized Web/Tech
Tagged with
TrackBack URL for this entry is http://shankman.com/work-geography-is-dead-long-live-life-geography/trackback/
My last full day in Australia started with an early rise, and a drive to the docks, to grab a boat to take me on a 75 minute journey to Tangalooma Resort, an island (made entirely of sand) full over tons of different activities for the entire family. For me, that consisted of…
A Desert Safari, complete with Sand Surfing
A Quad (4-wheeler) lesson and tour
Jet skiing around the island and catching SERIOUS air
And finally, feeding the dolphins at nightfall.
I’m exhausted, tired, in a ton of sore (the good kind) pain, awesomely suntanned, and best of all, chock full of photos from today’s awesome, awesome experience. What a way to end an amazing trip!
Some quick notes, before I fall asleep…
Tangalooma has eleven dolphins, 75 activities, two restaurants (that I counted) tons of incredibly nice people working there, and enough sand to rebuild Abu Dhabi.
Sand surfing, when done right, involves screaming down a sand dune at speeds topping out at around 40 miles per hour. When done wrong, it involves rolling head over heels down a sand dune, ingesting more sand than you’ll ever want to eat, ever in your life. I did both of them.
T-minus 4 seconds until I eat sand.
And yes – These were big-ass dunes. Person walking up them thrown in for scale.
This photo isn't manipulated. We had to walk up a mountain of sand to slide back down.
Here’s a photo of me and my guide for the day, prior to our dune surfing. Note the lack of sand all over our bodies:
Note severe lack of sand in every orifice.
And after.
A beach fell on us, apparently.
Quad Wheeling, or Four Wheeling, as we call it in America, can be scary as hell. Once you get the hang of it, after about five minutes, you just want to jump dunes for hours. I know now why this is a very popular sport with people who also own houseboats and watch Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Yee, and or Ha!
I totally did NOT like my Jet Ski guide. The reason for this, obviously, is because a) he just stepped out of an Australian ChapStick commercial, and b) got to ride Jet Skis all day and get paid for it. In what universe is that ok? Obviously, I liked him fine, I’m just jealous as hell. And somehow, when he jumped waves, he looked so smooth doing it. Every wave I jumped compressed my spine by an inch or so. I’m so sore, incredibly achy, and I’m now 4′11″.
Finally, the day ended with feeding the dolphins. As I was waiting to go down to the beach and meet the dolphins, I asked the group leader what kind of fish we were feeding him. “Herring,” he answered. I for one, was pleased to find out they were Jewish dolphins.
I’ll have photos of the feeding in a few days, but in yet ANOTHER sign from the universe that I’m simply supposed to marry Eliza Dushku, the dolphin I got to feed – What was his name? Echo.
The sunsets from the beach at Tangalooma were awesome.
Sunset from Tangalooma Resort
And that’s it. Tomorrow I pack up, and grab a 12pm flight from Brisbane to LAX, then connect from LAX to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, then Bangalore, India, for a conference. This has been beyond an amazing seven days, and I’m so very fortunate to have had the opportunity to come here. I can’t recommend Australia enough – I’m already plotting my return somehow. If you’re looking for a vacation spot this year – Trust me on this. Seriously.
Thanks for reading. I hope it was fun. 
Posted on February 13th, 2010 8:03 am with 5 Comments »
Filed under Uncategorized
Tagged with
TrackBack URL for this entry is http://shankman.com/tangalooma-resort-australian-for-pain-exhaustion-and-fun/trackback/
When you’re floating in the coral sea, with a snorkel in your mouth, staring at thousands of fish below you, you kind of zen out. You have time to think. I thought today. And it was good.
Got up insanely early again, and was met outside the Arlie Beach Hotel by my ride to take me to Ocean Rafting, for my “Northern Exposure tour,” which translates into “Fast boat jumping waves for snorkeling in two locations, then hiking, then lunch, then lying on the most pristine patch of sand I’ve ever seen in my life.”
While waiting to board, I met two women from Germany, taking six months to tour all around Australia, New Zealand, and Bali. How? They rented a car, and are sleeping in it. They meet tons of people who let them stay in their apartments, homes, hotels, and the like. I envy the living hell out of them.
It's over 50 degrees, so naturally, I'm soaked with sweat.
Boarding the boat, we took off through the waves for snorkeling. This time, I didn’t even wait to get out of range – I shut my Blackberry off when I got on the boat, put it in a waterproof bag with my passport and camera, and just focused on being in the moment. It was… Lovely.
Stopping at a sand bar for a moment,
Sadly, the Sand Bar didn't serve drinks.
we made our way to some serious snorkeling. At one point, I was face down near the boat, when all of a sudden, THOUSANDS (not exaggerating) of fish SWARMED me. Scared the hell out of me! I had no idea why, until I looked up, and saw the boat captain throwing fish food at me.
Ha, ha. Ass.
I swam away and just sort of floated… Then it kinda hit me – I was free. Not like, free from the fish, but free. Free from my Blackberry, free from attorneys, free from it all. And yes, this is a working vacation – which is fine – but the key, I realized, was to enjoy those few moments of “free…” however fleeting they may be. Because if you don’t, they’ll go away – and you’ll be left with nothing. And that’s not good.
Moving back onto dry land, we got to hike up a small mountain, and grab a few photos from the summit.
Finally, back down to the boat for lunch, then an hour to just sort of play on the sand, walk on the sand bar – by this time, the tide was out. We all pretty much laid on the sand, took off our sting-suits, and just… were.
Got back on the boat after, headed back to shore, (by the way, this was one fast-ass boat. See photo below)
And one of half the boat gang on said boat…
About five seconds before the captain dropped the boat into high gear.
and I managed to shower, change, and catch my ride to the airport – all within seven minutes.
Arrived at the airport, and a quick JetStar flight to Brisbane had me safely in the Sofitel Brisbane, where I was thrilled to discover a bottle of Champagne waiting for me from the PR person for the hotel. SCORE!
And that was Friday. One more day, then I’m on my way home to LA to connect to New Orleans, where oddly enough, I’ll be live-tweeting from Harry Conick Jr’s Mardi Gras float, for a project called My Mardi Gras Experience. That’s gonna be fun! Then right back to the airport to head over to Bangalore India, to speak at a conference.
The fun never stops!
Posted on February 12th, 2010 6:39 am with 1 Comment »
Filed under Uncategorized
Tagged with
TrackBack URL for this entry is http://shankman.com/thoughts-from-staring-at-a-fish/trackback/
