Eternal Sonata

I know I'm very late to this party, but I just have to wonder: what in the world were the guys at tri-Crescendo thinking when they decided to make Eternal Sonata?

Eternal Sonata is, of course, the role playing game for the Xbox 360 (and later Playstation 3) about the life of Frederic Chopin. Or to be more precise, it's an RPG that uses Chopin as a character, as players experience a fantastic dream the composer has as he lies on his deathbed, and where biographical episodes about Chopin's experiences are juxtaposed against the story unfolding in the game.

It's surely a fairly original premise, and by no means a bad game. For a title released early in the life of the 360 (it was originally an exclusive for the console), it's aged pretty well. The environments in the game are stunning, its gameplay is serviceable (if repetitive), and it does hit enough of the right notes -- pun intended -- to be a rather decent role-playing game (RPG).

But did it really need to revolve around Chopin? I think not, and would even go so far as to say that making it so was a stretch that ultimately made the game's story suffer unnecessarily. Granted, you will learn a lot about Chopin by playing the game, and it's impossible not to appreciate his music (which, I should add, is gorgeous) by the time the game is over. Yet the consequence of having the game revolve around Chopin, even tangentially, is that its story inevitably sinks into depths from which it is unable to recover.

This is no small matter, as an RPG is often judged by the quality of its story. And while Eternal Sonata starts off strongly enough, the plot eventually tanks, leaving players in the realm of the incomprehensible. This is my biggest disappointment with the game: I had started out very interested in the political intrigue surrounding the characters in Chopin's dream world, and was ultimately disappointed that these subplots simply amounted to nothing. In fact, I would go so far to say that had Eternal Sonata revolved around the dream world characters and omitted Chopin entirely, it would have been a much more compelling game and an undeniably interesting property.

In the end, Eternal Sonata is a more than decent game at best, unmade by a premise that proved unnecessary and difficult to pull off. But even those disappointed by the story have reason to take things in stride, treated as they will be to an Easter Egg at the end of the credits involving a snail and a caterpillar.

Trust me, if you have no idea what I'm talking about (and even if you do), it'll really leave you wondering, "What were those guys at tri-Crescendo thinking?"

Endure

Battered.

Beaten.

Broken.

Crushed.

Defeated.

Deflated.

Devastated.

Empty.

Hollow.

Hurting.

Shattered.

Torn.

Weak.

Weary.

Worn.

But still here.

The Education of Millionaires

There are a few notable things that I feel Michael Ellsberg gets right in his book The Education of Millionaires, and at least one glaring thing he gets strikingly wrong.

First, he is right that there is a huge gulf between what people learn in college and what is actually "useful" in "the real world".  In fact, I would say that both employers and college graduates are equally frustrated when having to confront this fact.  After all, employers have to devote resources just to bringing new graduates up to speed with the demands of industry, while new graduates suddenly feel disillusioned about what they didn't learn after four or five years in school.

Second, he is also right that a college education is not for everyone, nor is it a guarantee of future success.  Personally, I've always felt that the notion that college must be a rite of passage that kids go through is part of the reason why "learning" has become so credentials-based.  Just because someone takes up sixty units in accounting does not mean s/he will be any good as an accountant; it just means that s/he has taken up sixty units of accounting.  Moreover, it is equally true that some people will get more out of getting practical experience in a specific field rather than sticking it out in college -- in much the same way that some people need the sort of structure that college provides before venturing out into the real world.

Third, I appreciate the way he approaches the book to make these points.  In the Education of Millionaires, Ellsberg interviews various millionaires, many of whom never finished college, to explore the secrets to their success.  This, necessarily, is a delicate balancing act, and for the most part I feel that Ellsberg succeeds in not glamorizing the fact that college dropouts can be massively wealthy and incredibly successful.  He acknowledges, for instance, that luck has plenty to do with these outcomes, or their personal qualities, or the opportunities and experiences that they had which prompted them to drop out of college.  So in this regard, I think Ellsberg's treatment is fair, for the most part.

Accordingly, my sense is that The Education of Millionaires is a book that kids graduating high school or already in college should read, if only to open their eyes and make them think more carefully about what they expect to get out of the education they're receiving.  I would even go so far as to say that Ellsberg's writing style is particularly directed towards such an audience, with his penchant for talking about himself (arguably too much) and his use of occasionally, shall we say, colorful language.

However, I must say that I object to what seems to me the underlying premise of the book: that a college education is useless if it does not prepare graduates for the jobs/careers/opportunities that await them.

I will grant that he has a point when he writes (in so many words, and later in the book) that the mantra of "education for education's sake" rings rather hollow if the person being educated simply is not in a position to put food on the table.  I get that.  But at the same time, I would argue simply that no one -- college graduate and drop out alike -- is ever truly prepared for what lies ahead for them. Instead, life is all about being less unprepared, and for many people, college serves this purpose, even if what they learn may not seem of direct relevance at the time.

In my rather simplistic worldview, I've always felt that grade school prepares a person for high school, high school prepares a person for college, and college prepares a person for life.  Indeed, now, more than ever, I think this is true, and that the deck is stacked against undergraduates.  Why will a company risk hiring a person without a college degree, when there are so many graduates waiting in the wings in need of work? The answer: only if they are truly exceptional.

But at the end of the day, who ever said that just because you go to college you are guaranteed a good job, or a promising career?  Ellsberg rails against this for much of the book, and no matter how thoughtful, funny, and occasionally inspiring The Education of Millionaires is, on this score I feel it misses the point.  Ultimately, an education -- like life itself --  is what a person makes of it, and that is perhaps the most important lesson someone need to learn, whether in the hallowed halls of a University or out there in the school of hard knocks.

[This review is based on a pre-publication proof obtained through NetGalley.]

The Big Enough Company

There are a lot of reasons why people want to be entrepreneurs. Some do it to be masters of their own destiny, to know what it feels like to strike out on their own and be answerable to no one but themselves. Others do it for the simple joy of following their passion, to escape from the drudgery of corporate life and really, truly do something that they love and leave their mark on the world. Others, still, are attracted to a life of entrepreneurship for the simple reason that it allows them to keep flexible hours, to schedule their priorities, to make a living while living the life they always wanted.

Yet while there are many entrepreneurs who do live the dream, many more muddle along struggling with entrepreneurship's challenges. All of a sudden, the dream of being answerable to no one gives way to the reality that one has to manage clients, suppliers, partners and investors. Fairly often, it becomes clear that the only way to manage a budding venture is to fall into the very roles one left behind in a past corporate life. But above all else, there is that overwhelming sensation that -- oh no! -- you must live and breathe your business 24/7, because you're the last person in the world who'll ever be able to clock out and call it a day, especially when there are problems in need of resolution.

If you've ever found yourself feeling like this, then The Big Enough Company, by Adelaide Lancaster and Amy Abrams, may just be the book for you.

It's tempting to see The Big Enough Company as a guidebook for entrepreneurs who've lost their way, because it is in manner of speaking. But I prefer to think of it as an affirmation of why people choose to become entrepreneurs in the first place. As Lancaster and Abrams point out, many entrepreneurs fall into the trap of doing too much too fast. More often than not, it's with the best intentions in mind, whether growing the business, taking advantage of new opportunities, or sometimes just out of fear of having to say "no". Thus, the key is sometimes for an entrepreneur to get out of her own way, keep things in perspective, and grow the company "big enough" for their needs.

On a personal note, it was upon reading the authors' sentiment that an entrepreneur's greatest asset is time and not money that I knew they their hearts were in the right place.

There's an undeniable charm in the way the book is constructed, with Lancaster and Abrams tapping their network of clients to tell stories (including their own) about the struggles that different entrepreneurs have had and the advice that helped overcome their challenges. This "micro" case study approach makes the book and the authors' points easily relatable. However, such breadth of perspectives comes at a cost: at some point, the different stories seemed to me to blur together. But of course, one can't have it both ways, and the book is worthwhile and helpful regardless.

Yet perhaps the biggest coup that the Lancaster and Abrams pull off with The Big Enough Company is their deliberate effort to place the spotlight on women entrepreneurs, who comprise every example in the book. As the founders of In Good Company, a community of women entrepreneurs, this should come as no surprise, and though the entrepreneurs featured in the book may be largely unknown to readers outside the United States, there is much to be learned from their stories.

Indeed, if The Big Enough Company does nothing more than inspire more women to become better entrepreneurs, then I would say that Lancaster and Abrams have done themselves proud.

[This review is based on a pre-publication proof obtained through NetGalley.]

Respect: Subtle Tributes to Steve Jobs Across the Internet

It's a pity Steve Jobs will never get to see the outpouring of emotion and respect that followed his passing. Without a doubt, few individuals have had the kind of impact on their industry and the popular imagination than Jobs did while at the helm of Apple.

By now, there are many fantastic homages to Jobs (if you haven't read Steven Levy's piece yet, you're missing out). But as I read through these, at some point I started to wonder whether there were other, more subtle tributes that were being paid to Jobs by Apple's rivals and peers in Silicon Valley.

True to form, Google provide me with an answer to that question, by including a one-liner underneath the search bar in their deliberately sparse landing page:

I must admit, however, that I was a little disappointed that Google didn't upload a Doodle to pay homage.

Later on, as reaction to Jobs' passing started coming in from every corner of the world, Wired changed their landing page into a dedicated tribute to Jobs:

Likewise, the folks at TUAW made it a point to pay their respects to Apple's founder:

Of course, one would expect hat tips along the lines of the above. But I was surprised that other companies also made it a point to explicitly pay tribute to Jobs in their own small way.

For instance, Amazon placed a very prominent mini-banner on their landing page linking directly to Apple's announcement of Steve Job's death:

I guess I found this surprising, considering that Amazon simply didn't have to do it. But I must say that I admire the gesture of respect.

Meanwhile, Microsoft's landing page also had Jobs' passing mentioned in the "latest news" column on the site's layout:

Of course, Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer had expressed their own sadness at Job's passing, though neither statement found its way to the Microsoft landing page.

But I must admit I was plenty amused that Adobe made it a point to include an item about Steve Jobs on their website:

Granted, it's a remembrance of Jobs with Adobe's founders. But considering that Jobs once wrote a scathing public letter about Adobe Flash, it's a nice gesture all the same.

Of course, this is just a smattering of the subtle tributes I stumbled upon in the hours after news of Jobs' death came out. I'm sure there are many more, in various other shapes and forms.

It's been about two days since Steve Jobs passed on, and to me it feels as if the world is already a less exciting place. But at the same time, I know it's become a much more interesting place to be in just because he was a part of it. In his short fifty-six years on this earth he taught us to think differently, expect more, and demand nothing less than perfection. We are, all of us, the better off because of it.

Seven Things about the Humanities and Social Media [Presentation Thursdays]

View this presentation on Slideshare.

Earlier this week, I was asked to give a short talk on the Humanities and Social Media at First Asia Institute of Technology and Humanities. Above is the slide deck I prepared for the occasion.

I found it particularly challenging to put together a cogent presentation, so I settled on just seven items I felt were worth talking about. The slides were less visual than I would have liked (notwithstanding at least one image I've used before), and I decided to drive the talk with more statistics and quotations. I even managed to tailor it to the Philippine context (somewhat), just for good measure.

For the curious, the supporting references are as follows:

• The Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication's Survey of Internet Access and Use by Filipino Schoolchildren (PDF Link)
• CIBER's Social Media and Research Workflow Report (PDF Link)
• Cathy Davidson's essay, Humanities 2.0: Promise, Perils, Predictions (PDF Link)
• Alan Simpson's speech, The Marks of an Educated Man (PDF link).
• Nicholas Carr's The Shallows (Wired Magazine Excerpt)
• Zarella's Heirarchy of Contagiousness: The Science, Design and Engineering of Contagious Ideas, by Dan Zarella (Amazon Link)

[Confused about Presentation Thursdays? Then read the first in the series.]

Demand

In a roundabout way, you could say that it was my dad who first introduced me to Adrian Slywotzky's work.

Growing up, I remember him reading through Slywotzky's Value Migration, Profit Patterns and The Profit Zone, as each of these books would find a permanent place on the shelf behind his desk at the office. In fact, I remember my dad asking me once to reproduce a chart that he found in one of the books so that he could discuss it at a planning session or other.

I haven't yet raided my dad's shelf for those titles, though it's on my to-do list, for sure. But you can bet I was plenty excited to discover Slywotky's work on my own with his latest book, Demand: Create What People Love Before They Know They Want It.

Suffice it to say that the book certainly lives up to expectations.

As the title suggests, what Slywotzky and his collaborator Karl Weber seek to deconstruct in this book are those characteristics that make products or services madly appealing to the consuming public, or simply "magnetic" (to use their terminology). The secret, they submit, begins with understanding customer's "hassle maps"; that is to say, small problems that people already experience with the products they purchase. Once this has been understood, then companies can work on eliminating those hassles. With enough work from behind the scenes, a roadmap for further improvements down the road, and the flexibility to adapt to customer needs, companies will then have the necessary ingredients to launch products successfully and ultimately develop systems that consistently deliver magnetic products.

At first glance, some might argue that this framework is similar to that of many other business books of the "how to launch successful products" variety, a criticism often levied at the business book genre as a whole. However, where Demand shines is in its case study approach to elaborating upon Slywotzky's and Weber's ideas. Personally, I am a huge fan of business journalism by storytelling, and I would have to say that Demand does this just about right. Indeed, it's compelling reading if only for the variety of concise corporate histories that are presented throughout the book: Zipcar, Netflix, Wegmans, Bloomberg, Caremore, Amazon's Kindle, Tetra Pak, Nespresso, Teach for America, Pret a Manger (specifically, the branch at 60 Broad Street), the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Pixar, Merk and even venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Business schools would do well to take notice of the book not just for its premise but also as an example of how to write effective case studies. Anyone remotely interested in business will enjoy the book if only for the amount of (business) erudition that Slywotzky and Weber manage to pack in between covers.

I certainly enjoyed reading Demand, mostly because of its clarity and simplicity. It's an easy bet that it will be another influential business book that will capture the attention of professionals across industries. And it is arguably a fine point of entry into Slywotzky's body of work.

Now to get started on Slywotzky's other books still waiting for me on my dad's shelf.

[Demand: Creating What People Want Before They Know They Want It will be published by Crown Business on 4 October 2011. This review is based on a pre-publication proof obtained through NetGalley.]