Daily Archives: September 17, 2009

Kevin Maney’s “Trade-Off”

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There is a great new book out called Trade-Off: Why Some Things Catch On, and Others Don’t by author Kevin Maney. Kevin is a long time tech and media reporter and has worked at USA Today and Portfolio. He has written a Tipping Point-like book about quality vs. convenience. I just finished reading the book and all I can say is, “WOW!” It is smart; easy to digest; very helpful; and direct and to the point.

I am flattered that some of my concepts and ideas have influenced Kevin’s thinking. He even talks about AOL in the good old days and today’s Washington Capitals in this great tome.

Thank you Kevin. Logrolling in our time but I am being sincere. This is a terrific book. Get it now.

Sit In and Strike

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I am in NYC at a ritzy hotel. I just checked in and the employees are all on strike chanting “Scab! Scab! Scab!” as a manager helped check me in at registration. About 300 employees are chanting and yelling ”Power to the people!” and they have blocked all entrances at the hotel.

The union leader has a megaphone. This is a scene right out of the 60′s. Instead of turning me off, I will come here all of the time. “Power to the people! Ride on! We shall overcome!” This is too cool.

By Design

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We as a team have a lot of depth. We have lots of young players pushing veterans for playing time. Camp is very competitive. Goaltending is no exception as you will read in the Washington Post.

This is by design. As noted, our Hershey affiliate is a strategic asset for our franchise. We want and have developed a seamless system of training and developing young players to learn our system. When they play in Hershey, they are a part of our team. The players know they will get minutes in the NHL. They will get “their call” and they must be prepared when the time is right. They know we are watching how they do closely in Hershey so they play hard and get results for the Bears as well. They will have their opportunity to show what they can do in the NHL if they do well in the AHL. We believe in that fairness doctrine but at the same time we are loaded with young core players at the NHL level. Neuvirth helped Hershey win their championship last season and he is fighting for minutes still in the NHL. That is a great sign about how much depth we have at the NHL level, don’t you think?

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