RHetoric

You may not remember, but back in February I wrote a blog posting titled,”I’m Stuck in the Middle Seat in the Back of the Plane and Still Think Continental is Fantastic.” That posting was about how attention to key details in customer service can make all the difference, even for airlines.

Well, it has been 6 months and Doug Lipp just proved to me how small the Internet really is. Last week I received a voice mail from Doug telling me about a new book he just wrote, “Stuck in the Middle Seat: Why Traveling Can Really Suck!” and that he was going to send me a copy. Pretty cool considering if you do a Google search for “I’m Stuck in the Middle Seat” my posting comes up as the second hit on the second page.

But one of the great coincidences of this chain is that according to his web site, Doug is a customer service consultant, though his book has nothing to do with that (from what I have seen so far).

The coincidence is fun, but not the point. The key lesson here for me is two-fold:

1. The Internet (especially Google) has a memory and relevance that can be found months or years later
2. Finding a connection and sending me a copy of his book was a smart idea. Doug used the Internet and Web 2.0 to its fullest. His reminding me of my previous post resulted in a new post that focused on his book and provided two links to his site.

Marketing on the Internet can be challenging, but as Doug demonstrated, the shortest path to success is finding individuals’ natural affinities and leveraging them.

I generally prefer to take a national or global view of current events, but my third year in the 98104 zip code has opened my eyes to some extraordinary developments in Seattle with global implications.

First, consider how much of the last 200 years of global growth was firmly rooted in the east coast cities of the U.S. Ever since Colonial times, these cities benefited from being the geographic hubs of trade, finance, and politics, reaching across the Atlantic to Europe, and across the continent to the Pacific.

Now look at where the action will be in the next 200 years. China, India, and much of the Pacific Rim is undergoing an unprecedented regeneration, spilling over any known bounds of investment, infrastructure build-out, education, population, and every other measure of expansion.

What is the relevance to Seattle? John Markoff of The New York Times, referring to the Emerald City, recently noted: “Many communities dream of becoming the next Silicon Valley. This one is actually doing it.” He noted the ‘Baby Bills’ (Microsoft spin-offs), the ‘Baby Jeffs’ (Amazon spin-offs), and even the ‘Baby Sergeys’ (Google has established a substantial and labor-hungry presence here). He noted the power of the University of Washington — where the average GPA for undergrad admissions has risen to somewhere around 3.7 — and the billions of dollars in venture capital that is invested here annually.

Beyond technology, there are building cranes in every vista, whether in downtown Seattle, South Lake Union, or Bellevue. Recession? It doesn’t feel like it.

Finally, the largest state-wide technology association in the world is right here in Washington State, the Washington Technology Industry Association. It represents 1,000 companies and 80,000 technology sector employees. This group recently opened an office in China… they know where opportunities lie for the region’s technology employers. Attend a networking event and witness for yourself how many people have migrated from India or China and are part of the fabric of Seattle’s economy.

It is far too early to make predictions about the future global balance of economic power, and which cities stand to be the great geographic hubs of 21st-century commerce or innovation. But I would argue that there will be a colossal nexus between technology innovation and global economic development. Seattle is certainly hitting all the right notes as it auditions for the global stage.

In the weeks leading up to Christmas, my wife told me a dozen times that she had e-mailed me her Christmas list. In true urgent-and-important fashion, I relegated this nugget of knowledge to the recesses of my brain until just before Dec. 25, knowing that at any instant I could effortlessly deploy Google Desktop Search to rescue the shopping list from the bulging inbox. (more…)