Business
The Attention Walk
Scoble and I spent a lazy afternoon after lunch at Jing Jing's walking around Palo Alto, looking for a good place to chat about Attention. First we went to the University Cafe (too loud, tried one false start), then on to the HP garage (under construction, the new guy must be moving fast), past anonymous buildings identified by Robert as "where Google got started" and "where Java was created" among others.
Scoble and I spent a lazy afternoon after lunch at Jing Jing's walking around Palo Alto, looking for a good place to chat about Attention. First we went to the University Cafe (too loud, tried one false start), then on to the HP garage (under construction, the new guy must be moving fast), past anonymous buildings identified by Robert as "where Google got started" and "where Java was created" among others. Eventually we wound up at the train station across the street from the Westin where I lived for two years while commuting from Charleston to my job running XML Mag.
Watching Robert exercising his Channel 9 chops in the dawn of the ourmedia opportunity, I was struck by how carefully and calmly he chose his tools, locations, and questions. Gone was the deer-caught-in-the headlights look of his Fawcette days, the goofy look-what-I fell-into look of the early days at Microsoft, even the purposeful self-analysis of the last six months. Of course, a lot of it is he's growing comfortable in his skin. But what fascinated me was how he employed many of the tricks I've used over the years to keep the feel live and the conversation moving forward. A quick learner, and a good listener. Powerful combination.
Watching Robert exercising his Channel 9 chops in the dawn of the ourmedia opportunity, I was struck by how carefully and calmly he chose his tools, locations, and questions. Gone was the deer-caught-in-the headlights look of his Fawcette days, the goofy look-what-I fell-into look of the early days at Microsoft, even the purposeful self-analysis of the last six months. Of course, a lot of it is he's growing comfortable in his skin. But what fascinated me was how he employed many of the tricks I've used over the years to keep the feel live and the conversation moving forward. A quick learner, and a good listener. Powerful combination.