AmericanVisionaries.com

Adios. A New Adventure Begins

When I created this blog in 2005, this was a new beginning for me.  And after 200 posts and a great deal of exploration, I know I've been absent. 

So, it's time for me to explain.  I've been with Sand Creek Post & Beam since 2007, a company that specializes in traditional wood barns and outbuildings.  It's been a great experience, growing with them as they just finished 2010 with over $ 7 million in sales and became the parent company of Texas Timber Frames.  So, now we offer everything from the most rustic barn with steel-plated joinery to the most elegant home with century-old wood pegged, mortise and tenon joinery.  

With my new career came a new appreciation for barns -- so I've created a new site, FamousBarns.com that will highlight a new barn each month.  It's almost ready to launch --

Thanks for stopping by and ... don't be a stranger.

The Consumer's Role in the Personal Experience Factor

In the past week, my partner Mike Dandridge wrote a great post on his blog about the role of the consumer in the personal experience factor (PEF), http://businessturnaround.blogs.com.  He writes that his wife called to let him know that she'd just gotten a free Diet Coke at Jack in the Box ... and he's right ... that's the kind of service that makes consumers talk about you or your business.

But he also admits that his wife is an eternal optimist, believing that "the universe is always conspiring to help her, and interestingly, it seems to be doing just that." 

In Alain de Botton's book, The Art of Travel, he shares the story of Xavier de Maistre, a Frenchman who wrote Journey Around my Bedroom in the spring of 1790.  Xavier built a large pair of paper wings he was going to use to fly to America.  He didn't succeed; but he did fly in a hot air balloon for a few minutes before crashing into a pine forest outside his home of Chambery, at the foot of the French Alps.

DaVinci's Mechanical Wing Device ca.1485 www.flyingmachines.org/davi/html

Journey Around my Bedroom suggests that "the pleasure we derive from a journey may be dependent more on the mindset we travel with than on the destination we travel to."

A key to that mindset - receptivity, Botton says.  "Receptive, we approach new places with humility."

Some people, like Mike's wife Frances, are born with this gift and never lose it.  Others become so hardened by circumstances and events, that nothing can soften their insight.  Some of us lose it and have to fight to win it back.

Everything we do is a journey ... a trip to the store, a trip to the drive-through for a Diet Coke, a trip around our bedroom, a trip around the world.  Sure, successful retailers and restaurants help to create an experience for us.  But, the adventure is up to us.  That's why it's called the Personal Experience Factor.

And, when I think of Xavier, the adventurous twenty-seven year old Frenchman, and the dream of the paper wings that would carry him across an ocean, I think of the lyrics written by Guy Clark on the latest Asleep at the Wheel CD (Reinventing the Wheel).

"He's one of those who knows that life is just a leap of faith, spread your arms, hold your breath, always trust your cape."

 

 

Living Sculpture

Main Entry: ¹sculp·ture
1 a : the action or art of processing (as by carving, modeling, or welding) plastic or hard materials into works of art
Source:  Merriam Webster Online Dictionary

This photo by David Heald is of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, which opened in 1997.

Frank Gehry, the architect who designed this project, told his friend producer/director Sydney Pollack that it all started when he was about 8 years old. 

"... my grandmother would get a sack of wood-cuttings from the wood stove.  Every once in a while she'd open the sack and throw the stuff out onto the floor and we'd sit down on the floor and start building things.  We made cities and freeways .. it was so much fun."

A few years later his Rabbi told his mother he had golden hands; a handwriting analyst told him he would be a famous architect; his instructor (in his second year of architectural classes) told him he didn't have what it takes.

But he did become an architect.         

Later, the moment of truth came at a dinner party.

Gehry's words, from "Sketches of Frank Gehry,"

"At the same time as I did (my) house I was building Santa Monica Place.  The night Santa Monica Place opened we had dinner here with the president of the Rouse Company -- he was a lawyer -- and he says to me 'What the hell is this?'  (He was referring to Gehry's home.)  Well you know, I was experimenting and playing.  He said 'Do you like it?  You must like it?'  I said, I do.  'Well if you like this then you can't possibly like that,' and he pointed to Santa Monica Place.  I said, you're right, I don't.  And he said, 'So why'd you do that?'  And I said, because I had to make a living and he said, 'Stop it.  You should stop it ... don't do that.'  And, I said you're right.

Now at that moment 45 people in my office were working on projects for him and he and I shook hands that night and decided to quit everything. 

It was like jumping off a cliff, it was an amazing feeling and I was so happy from then on."

Gehry's first reaction when he saw the Guggenheim in Bilbao: he said he was embarrassed.

From the Guggenheim website, about the Museum and its impact:

"... (this project) has succeeded in creating an iconic identity for Bilbao.  The singular economic and cultural impact felt in the wake of its opening in October 1997 has sparked an increased awareness of the powerful force that architecture can wield."

"When an artist comes to me, he wants to know how to change the world."

- Milton Wexler, Gehry's Insightful Therapist

That is why great architecture is "interactive art."

By the way, what makes you feel like you're 8 years old again?  How do you play? 

Has anyone loved you enough to tell you to "Stop it" and be who you really are?

Your Architect

March 17, 1974:  He died in a bathroom at Penn Station in New York; he wasn't identified for three days.  He had returned from a trip to Bangladesh, had his passport on him, but his home address and contact information had been crossed out ... unreadable.  They learned later that even though he was a world-renown architect, he was heavily in debt.

Let me tell you about his work in India.  No -- let me have someone from Bangladesh tell you about his work. 

Shamsul Wares said, "It was almost impossible for a country like ours ... this building.  Thirty- fifty years back, it was nothing ... only paddy fields.  And since we invited him here, he felt that he has got a responsibility, he wanted to be Moses here.  He gave us democracy.

He is not a political man, but in disguise he has given us an institution for democracy, from where we can rise.  And that weight is so relevant. 

He didn't care for how much money this country has or whether he would ever be able to finish this building.  But, somehow he has been able to do it ... build it here.  And this is the largest project he has -- in the poorest country in the world.

He has given us this building and we feel all the time for him.  That's why he has given love for us." 

He was speaking of Louis Kahn.

   

Jatiyo Sangshad Bhaban, designed by Louis I. Kahn, houses the National Parliament of Bangladesh. Photo by Karl E. Roehl

So many lessons here.

If you want to introduce a people to democracy, build them up, don't tear them down.

If you want your country to be filled with princes and princesses, build them a castle.

If you want to earn love, give it away.

And, if you want to know more about Louis Kahn and his work, through the eyes of his son, see My Architect, by Nathaniel Kahn.

Tea for Six in St. Andrews

Fifteen years ago I bought a complete tea service for six at a china shoppe about a block away from The Old Course in St. Andrews, Scotland. 

Do you know how useful a complete tea service for six has been to me in South Texas?

I know why I bought it.  So I could bring home the experience of an English tea party at breakfast.  I wanted to have that all the time -- the experience of walking down the stairs, all polished up and ready for a big day of adventure, having tea and toast and eggs brought to me ... and in the case of St. Andrews, looking over the Old Course or the bay, with their morning mist -- begging me to stay inside that B&B and drink tea all day.

I just read The Art of Travel, and in my previous post I mention John Ruskin.  John was well-traveled.  The author, Alain de Botton, summarizes John's conclusions on travel and our experiences.

"Ruskin's interest in beauty and in its possession led him to five central conclusions.

First, beauty was the result of a number of complex factors that affected the mind both psychologically and visually.

Second, humans had an innate tendency to respond to beauty and to desire to possess it.

Third, there were many lower expressions of this desire for possession (including, as we have seen, buying souvenirs and carpets, carving one's name on a pillar and taking photographs).

Fourth, there was only one way to possess beauty properly, and that was by understanding it, by making oneself conscious of the factors (psychological and visual) responsible for it.

And last, the most effective means of pursuing this conscious understanding was by attempting to describe beautiful places through art, by writing about or drawing them, irrespective of whether one happened to have any talent for doing so."

For over 80 years, lovers of Southwestern and Indian Art make a pilgrimage to Santa Fe, New Mexico for the Santa Fe Indian Market.  Last year, the Market attracted over 100,000 people from all over the world.  The economic impact of the event each year to the state of New Mexico is around $100 million.

The American Southwest has drawn people to its beauty and culture for over a century.  The study of its birth and life has been my fascination and my passion.   And, if you're in art, architecture, tourism or real estate development -- you'll learn from its executions and lessons.

Ruskin spoke of beauty and our desire to possess it and the wisdom of understanding it.   

One hundred thousand buyers still come from all over the world to a special 3-day event in August to possess the beauty of the American Southwest ... from those who know how to share their understanding, their stories, through their arts. 

William Robinson Leigh, The Hopi Pottery Merchant

Learn to See

Last week I went to a local gallery to see the "Picture your World" exhibition.  Ruth Hoyt, naturalist and full-time photographer, worked with the Bexar Land Trust to provide kids an opportunity to represent what they saw in their world of nature.  The disposable cameras didn't limit the kids, the process or the end result in any way.  Their pictures showed an ability to see beyond landscapes and sunsets; their pictures showed maturity and depth.

In The Art of Travel, I read about John Ruskin, who taught "The Art of Drawing" between 1856 and 1860 at the Working Men's College in London.  Besides teaching (mostly Cockney craftsmen) he was a highly regarded lecturer and writer.

And, at the end of each course, he reminded them, "Now, remember gentlemen, that I have not been trying to teach you to draw, only to see." 

I think that may have been at least one of Ruth's goals as well.

Photo above from the exhibition, the work of Robert Bredvad.

 

Cage and Fish and Barry White

I was introduced to it on I-35, from Wichita to Kansas City, a late afternoon when the sun from the west made the Flint Hills in fall look like they were on fire.

It was with me when I drove 2 hours northwest of Albuquerque, where the streets have no name through the Rio Puerco Valley, to hike up Cabezon Peak, with the dirt creaking yellow-red in the dryness.   

It was with me almost every day for a year after my fiance was killed in a motorcycle accident. 

It was with me through the Valley of Fires, the volcanic stretch along the asphalt from San Antonio, New Mexico to Ruidoso.  I was on my way to a new job in Texas.   But I still haven't found what I'm looking for.

Do you remember the law firm Cage and Fish, the attorneys Ally McBeal and John Cage?  Ally's psychologist (played by Tracey Ullman) recommended to Ally that she have a theme song.  I don't remember Ally's -- but I do remember John Cage's theme song ... "we got it together baby," the first line of Barry White's "You're the First, the Last, My Everything."

Do you have a theme song? 

I know mine.  It's most of the songs on U2's The Joshua Tree.

Over the weekend I watched the DVD about the making of the CD.  The album has sold 10 million copies in the United States alone.  The Joshua Tree was # 26 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time; and in 2001 (fourteen years after its initial release), it was # 6 on Contemporary Christian Music's The 100 Greatest Albums in Christian Music.

U2's guitarist, The Edge, said this about one of their goals for the music of The Joshua Tree, "We talked to Brian (that's Brian Eno, their producer) about the cinematic aspect of music, where music can actively evoke a landscape and a place, and can really bring you there." 

Not surprisingly, the band was often evoking America's desert Southwest. 

If you're in tourism, lodging or even in retail, are you using music effectively to bring your customers to the place they dream of going?  To the place they want to be?

Now it probably won't surprise you if I tell you that I own about 2 dozen CDs; when I'm not listening to NPR or classic rock and roll, I play them.  But I've bought 3 CDs of The Joshua Tree over the years. 

As long as it's with me, so are the Flint Hills in the fall, Cabezon Peak and the Valley of Fires.   

Maxwell Parrish's Evening

The Civic Cycle and Volunteerism

July 7, 2006 - "College graduates, shaped by such events as Sept. 11, Hurricane Katrina and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, are applying to service organizations such as AmeriCorps and the Peace Corps in record numbers." (USA TODAY)

In October of 2005, the Peace Corp announced the highest level of volunteers in 30 years:  7,810 Americans serve with the Peace Corp in 77 countries. The Peace Corp volunteer level peaked at nearly 15,000 in 1966 and was at record lows in the 1980s - in fact, only 5,380 served in 1982, the lowest level in Peace Corp history.

Are there more young adults age 20-24 than there were in the 1980s?

• 1980 - Adults 20-24,  8 % of the total US population (22,441,863)
• 2000 - Adults 20-24, 6.7 % of the total US population (18,964,001)

So, there were 3,477,862 more adults 20-24 in 1980.*

Are there fewer jobs for college graduates now, than in 1980?

" ... the National Association of Colleges & Employers notes job prospects for seniors are up 14.5% over 2005." (USA TODAY, July 7, 2006)

Photo courtesy of the Peace Corp.

"On October 14, 1960, at 2:00 a.m., Presidential Candidate John F. Kennedy stands on the steps of the Michigan Union at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. In an impromptu speech, he challenges them to give two years of their lives to help people in countries of the developing world." (www.peacecorps.gov)

Five months later, President Kennedy issues an Executive Order creating the Peace Corp.  This year, 2006, the Corp celebrates its 45th Anniversary.

That was 1960 ... but who has challenged this generation to serve?

In the USA TODAY article, one 26-year old, who had just left a career in corporate banking to serve with the Peace Corp in Panama, stated "There's a lot of need in this world, and it wasn't doing anything in my heart to help make the rich people be richer."

So are 20 year-olds different than they were in 1980?  Why the increase in volunteerism?

Twenty year-olds are different than they were in 1980.

My friend, we are ALL different than we were in 1980.

There's an increase in volunteerism across the population spectrum.  New organizations like Global Service Corp and Cross Cultural Solutions offer programs for all ages to serve, with flexible commitments (even 1 to 12 weeks).

Read my founding partner, Roy H. Williams' "Marketing in 2005 and Beyond;" you'll understand this transformation.   

From the memo, and the book Generations, he talks about the swing from the "idealistic generation" of the 1963-2002 forty-year cycle to the new "civic generation," beginning in 2003 and lasting through 2043.  In the memo (written in November of 2004) he predicts the increase in volunteerism, the end of the term "upwardly mobile" and the decrease in the effectiveness of current advertising.

Sure 911, Katrina and Iraq have something to do with it.  But it's deeper ... it's inevitable.

For me, like the 26 year-old, I felt it in my heart.  Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs went out the window and I live with a different triangle.  Self-actualization became more important than safety in this new world.

In 2004, I realized the ethics of the company I served no longer matched my own.  The Emperor had no clothes.  After 25 years in television and network radio, I resigned.  Three months later, I was diagnosed with cancer -- my second diagnosis in 4 years. 

I realize there are Emperors and Empresses all around me ... but they don't come in the form of CEOs, politicians or sales performance winners at the annual conference.  They come in the form of my husband, my Mom, the nutritionist at the Cancer Therapy and Research Center, the teeth and soap-deprived old man on the bus that made the bus driver stop to return the checkbook I left on the seat, my friends and family who send me cards and pray for me.

Over the past two years my lifestyle has changed.  When I look back I think of 7 things that were the highlight of my career.  The seven trips I took, alone, to the top seven western art museums in America.  Those trips replenished my soul.

I know art has that effect on everyone ... it's because of the way our brains are wired.  That's why I provide the tools to the corporate world on the difference the right art program, when properly executed, can make to employees, stakeholders and customers.

*US Census, 2000

NOLA KNights

July 29, 2006 - New Orleans, LA

The t-shirts in the shops between the French Quarter and Downtown tell some of the story.

"F - E - M - A (Find Every Mexican Available)"

"New Orleans - Chocolate City, with vanilla flavoring"

The hopeless sideways X's and O's on the houses, doors and sidewalks, the trash in the streets, the grass -- knee-high in the medians -- the empty streets, the "For Sale" signs in the French Quarter, tell some of the rest.

During the day, the streets are lined with construction trucks and vans.  Insurance vehicles are easy to spot.   

If you've already given a gift to a Hurricane Katrina fund, you might be able to give a more important gift.  You can go to New Orleans.  NOLA needs hope.  It's not moving fast enough.  No one knows where to start.   But many hotel rooms are available; great restaurants and shops are open.

It's easy to say yes to a Bloody Mary at breakfast and to a $ 3 tip for a $ 7 cab ride.

They need you to say yes.   Yes to New Orleans.

      

Photo by Sonja Howle

The fountain and sculpture behind Cafe du Monde across from Jackson Square. 

It all started with one painting

In my town of San Antonio I've been watching and listening.

There are several things I've noticed; I've noticed some new visionaries.   Visionaries who are using art as a tool of marketing.

The Summer 2006 Cactus Pear Music Festivals:  classical performances from 19 world-class musicians throughout San Antonio and the Hill Country. 

First, they admit it was inspired by a margarita named the "Cactus Pear."  (Who hasn't had some of their best inspirations over a Margarita?)

Second, they've tied a simple and elegant art project to their kick-off.  They've asked local artists to display their art on violins .... click "Curated Curves, The Art of the Violin."

The proceeds from the art auction (after it's been displayed in San Antonio and surrounding areas) will benefit their educational outreach programs. 

______________________________________________________________

The newest old hotel in San Antonio is on the verge of a grand re-opening.  It's described as iconic 60s glamour mixed with Latin style.  It's the first hotel built on the San Antonio River.  They've done the math and decided the old hotel has seen nearly 6 million suitcases ... so, BaggageClaim2fame was created.   

Artists, student groups and corporations are encouraged to decorate/re-design luggage "suitable for display."

The art travels throughout the city to 6 public and private venues on exhibition.

Art will be judged and auctioned; the proceeds benefit the community-giving program, The Bexar County Arts and Cultural Fund (theFund).

The event and releases have been well-timed by the creative firm and hotel to celebrate National Tourism Week, San Antonio's Contemporary Art Month (July) and the unveiling of El Tropicano (September 2006).

More at BaggageClaim2Fame.com

Over a century ago, the Santa Fe Railway sent Thomas Moran to the Grand Canyon.  In return for this adventure, they received the rights to one of his paintings.  They had high-quality lithographs produced and sent them everywhere ....  Today their collection of art is worth millions.  And, it all started with one painting. 

Do programs like this make a difference?  I'll answer that question over the next few weeks.