"Nothing fails like success because we don't learn from it. We learn only from failure." Kenneth Boulding

"The opposite of talking isn't listening. The opposite of talking is waiting." Fran Lebowitz

"People count up the faults of those who are keeping them waiting." French proverb

Today's image: Color Expression by rt44man. Wonderful. Thanks for sharing.

Metrics & Testing

Trade secrets: On the day job we strongly recommend clients make use of a daily dashboard to track performance metrics. Further, we believe testing, experimentation, offers outstanding ROI.

Google web analytics ace Avinash Kaushik suggests investing one hour a day using analytic tools, experience has taught our team there is significant wisdom in his suggestion. Should you not be using Google Analytics it is our suggestion you sign-up today. More info here.

Sridhar blogging at Zoho has pulled together some interesting information and features the following data in the post Why We Compete with Google...

For each company below - Annual Rev in $Bil/Rev per Emp in 000/Profit per Emp in 000

Google - 16.6/847/214
Microsoft - 60.42/664/194
eBay - 8.1/523/103
Adobe - 3.16/454/103
Yahoo - 6.97/487/46
Salesforce.com - 0.75/262/7

We have selected only some of the firms listed in the post and ranked these by profit per employee. Should Sridhar be correct in the arithmetic and we have no reason to doubt the numbers, Google is doing an exceptional job of producing revenue and profit on a per employee basis. Sridar's entire post is here.

The encouraging news here is we are aware of some broadcast operations that are producing revenues north of $847,000 per employee and those same operations generate profit per employee greater than $214,000. How does your team compare?

Bonus: Internets rock star Clay Shirky talks with Bob Garfield about Twitter. How Tweet It Is, audio and transcript, via On The Media here.

Local, local, local: LR contributor Don Day has done an excellent overview of what's happening in local media. Highly recommended post, The battle for local: The Players, w/comments here. Bravos, Don!

"Have fun at what you do. It will be reflected in your work. No one likes a grump except another grump!" William Swanson

Swanson's Unwritten Rules of Management: unwritten rule number twenty five...

"We all spend many, many hours doing what we do. It is much more pleasant to spend those hours with people who have a bounce in their step and a smile on their face than with those who mistakenly associate professionalism with being sour and dour.

I enjoy what I do. I like working with others who feel the same way and I believe the work product reflects this.

I know our customers appreciate a team that enjoys what it does."

Bill is so totally on the mark. Are you having fun?

Which reminds me of David Ogilvy...

"Advertising agencies are fertile ground for office politics. You should work hard to minimize them, because they take up energy which can better be devoted to our clients; some agencies have been destroyed by internal politics. Here are some ways to minimize them:

1. Always be fair and honest in your own dealings; unfairness and dishonesty at the top can demoralize an agency.
2. Never hire relatives or friends.
3. Sack incurable politicians.
4. Crusade against paper warfare. Encourage your people to air their disagreements face-to-face.
5. Discourage secrecy.
6. Discourage poaching.
7. Compose sibling rivalries.

...Try to make working at Ogilvy & Mather fun. When people aren't having any fun, they seldom produce good advertising. Kill grimness with laughter. Maintain an atmosphere of informality. Encourage exuberance. Get rid of sad dogs who spread gloom."

Agree with the great Mr Ogilvy especially the "get rid of sad dogs." You have an obligation to your team to get rid of the sad dogs. In my experience this is also a mitzvah, an act of kindness that benefits, ultimately, the sad dog terminated. "If you are not happy here, if you are not having fun, we need to talk." In those cases where you are not able to work with the sad dog to better their situation and get them performing or they are not willing to step up, do their part to better the situation then you must part ways. Tolerating or excusing the behavior and attitude of sad dogs ("That's just how Jennifer is, you know, always in a bad mood, hates her job"), working around sad dogs ("Let's give this assignment to Alex, he'll do a much better job than Zach") or wasting valuable time attempting to change them (this qualifies as ill-starred missionary work) is simply counterproductive. Stop! Get rid of sad dogs that spread doom. Your team will thank you and someday so may the sad dog.

Telling it like it is: It's always personal, never say it's not. A close friend of mine was fired this week in another one of those downsizing moves. The division president said "it's not personal, it's business." Well, the division head is wrong. When you end a person's income, when you take away the ability of that person to put food on the table and pay their bills it's personal. You can't get any more personal than disrupting someone's ability to pay their bills. Firing is always difficult, the effect is always personal.

Anthony! The flash data indicates the Soprano's last show clocked in at 11.9 mil (the previous single episode high being about 13.4 mil). This would translate into about a 10.3 share of households (provided my arithmetic is correct based upon a data suggesting a total 115 mil TV households).

TV 101: Les Moonves on the obvious..."Networks aren't brands anymore. They used to be when it was a three-network universe. Shows are brands. CSI's a brand, Survivor's a brand, Two And A Half Men is a brand. I don't think CBS is a brand. You'd like to be known for quality, a place you can go to get good stuff. But we have some garbage on too." More via Louis Hau writing in Forbes here. People are not loyal to TV stations, they are loyal to shows. The play's the thing.

Road trip! Another fun lunch with programming ace Tom Teuber yesterday. We have decided a lunch run to Chicago is soon to be the order of the day; I'm assigned the usual concierge duties (arranging day/date/venue/A-list company). That sign post up ahead - one very cool lunch to remember. Thanks Tom.

Congrats & cheers: Google Analytics team on the upgrades - killer - thank you!

Bob Shannon wraps his four-part profile of the legendary Fred Winston. Bravos Bob, well done! Read Bob's All Them Big Dogs via AllAccess (free reg req)