I found out in my second job that my new employer was equally interested in my network of contacts as they were in my work experience. When I moved into sales and marketing this was even more so.

I read with interest a post (thanks for link to Steve Rubel) that at a recent conference presenters were saying just how the new generation of workers will expect employers to be embracing social media and having it as a tool.

That got me thinking about me when I first started work versus my son and daughter and the value of our respective networks to our employers.

My ‘network’ was primarily made up of school and sports clubs people. All my own age linked by school or membership of the clubs. I had their addresses and phone numbers but found when I moved to London for my first job over the a year or two most of the contacts dried up.

Fast forward to today. My son (20) and daughter (21) have been on the internet and using mobile phones for a few years now. (When I was young I remember my parents getting a phone in the house. It was like a sacred instrument. The BT engineer showed us how to use it. Probably my imagination but it felt like we all slept and ate near the phone until someone actually rang us. For weeks the phone ringing would send a shiver of excitement through us all. I remember my parents booking a call via the operator to our relations in the USA in 1963 when my cousin got married! We were given a time slot and the operator had to make the call and connect us. I told everyone at the village school and gained a lot of popularity telling and retelling the story.)

So back to my kids. They are not exceptional. Most of their peer group will enter employment with an amazing network of social contacts. People they text and speak to on mobiles and now facebook, MySpace and their other social media sites. Their network of contacts is vast. Far in excess of mine at their age. They are also much more active. Technology lets them be.

Now when will the first job vacancy advert appear that has a job requirements specification item that says?

·         Active social media user wanted

Will graduates and others be able to charge a salary premium for large networks of friends just as experience does?

Driving to the studios in Southampton I caught part of a radio item or package as they have started to call it. Sorry but I cannot get the image of the Post Office out of my mind when I hear that said!

I am not even sure what station I was on and try as I might I cannot find any details on the internet of the survey.

This has no source so all I can do is quote what I heard....

60% of people will no longer send 'wish you were postcards' but will send an e-mail message instead.

Missing the pictures off the postcard? No. With digital cameras they are now simply attaching a photo that they have taken. The top three pictures:

• Local scenery (sea, beaches etc)
• Hotel
• Sunburn

So what are you doing? Postcard or internet?

In his post today Seth Godin talks about Steve Jobs and his gift at finding a rift (changing the rules to everyone elses disadvantage).

What Seth seems to suggest is that people accidentially find the rift and then work it. While that maybe true for some for most people they work really hard at creating the riff. Dyson spent many years perfecting his vacum cleaner. Gates and the development team spent years perfecting Windows. As someone once said 'I spent 20 years trying to become an overnight sensation'.

All these people have a few things in common.

• Tenacity
• Drive
• Vision

And as Seth says....a willingness to bet big on success. Sometimes a whole company.

I worked for 3M in the mid 1970s. A company with a deserved innovation. Check out how many of their innovative products came from those 3 things and also earlier mistakes or product design failures.  

I remember something Ben Rosen said at our first Lotus team meeting in 1985 'I have backed a lot of products that turned out to be dogs but one or two have become superstars. That is what keeps me going and why people forgive me for my mistakes'.

OK. I give up. Another present. Just thought - could this be because its Fathers Day? Do cats understand these things?

Found in the kitchen. Frog or toad?

Sunday morning and the animal saga continues. No sign of the mouse but that is not a bad thing as it means the cats have not caught it and killed it over night.

We now have another visitor. We are not sure if it is a vole or shrew. Anyone out there able to identify it? We tried catching it but they are so fast and can squeeze through the smallest spaces. Amazing.

We had put some cereals out for the mouse behind a cupboard as we were worried about it making the 'cat bowl run'. This morning some had gone so we know (s)he is OK. Later today we will have to shut the cats away and pull the kitchen apart to catch them and take them to safety.

Living in the country with two cats (and a dog) I am used to seeing lots of animals - usually dead when in the house. The cats are a killing machine despite spraying them with water and having collars with bells on them to try and ward off any prey! (all suggestions on how to stop them welcome)

So it is nice to see one mouse, who despite playing a dangerous game, is getting one over on the cats!

I saw him/her for the first time this evening. While the cats were out or asleep somewhere he/she came out and took a cat biscuit from their bowl and took a drink of water (to moisten it?) He/she then repeated it again before scampering off!

More pictures at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/adrianjmoss/sets/72157600375800947/

Sorry. I don't usually post e-mail jokes or stories but this made stop and think about life.

This weekend is Fathers Day and my kids (20 and 21) are going to spoil me by cooking me a BBQ. It will be a lovely day but sad too as my Father died 3 years ago.

After a particularly hectic week it was nice to get this....

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to
visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into
complaints about stress in work and life.

Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned
with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic,
glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling
them to help themselves to hot coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: "If
you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving
behind the plain and cheap ones.

While it is normal for each of you to want only the best for yourselves,
that is the source of your problems and stress.

What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously
went for the best cups and were eyeing each other's cups.

Now if life is coffee, then the jobs, money and position in society are the
cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, but the quality of Life
doesn't change.

Some times, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the
coffee in it."

So, don't let the cups drive you... enjoy the coffee instead...

We have just received news of a new household recycling programme being introduced by local councils across England and Wales.

Funded by an EC grant to help the UK increase the percentage of household waste that is recycled a local council official stated that they would be using the first 6 months as an educational period of time but thereafter on the spot fines would be imposed.

The council official refused to confirm or deny that the process would allow car number plates to be tracked back so video would be put on YouTube as part of a 'name and shame' programme.

What with 14 million CCTV cameras already in the UK it does seem excessive to now have mobile crews at recycling plants!

See http://www.flickr.com/photos/adrianjmoss/sets/72157600291863746/

I have just heard that Manchester is to equip some of its traffic wardens with mini video cameras so they can record incidents in real time using a video stream technology. Shades of JustinTV*. This will be then used in evidence for prosecution if required. They will be clearly on display so avoiding any issues with Data Protection legislation.

Salford are at the leading edge of traffic management and recently were caught painting ‘no parking’ lines under a legally parked car (see here) so they could issue a ticket to it. One has to admire their creative ideas at generating additional income.

Now being a video production company we know you can easily edit digital video. Does this mean Salford will be hiring a team of video editors so they can increase prosecution rates and increase revenue still further?

For those of you with a Monty Python vision of a traffic warden with a plate sized video camera attached to their head think again. Video cameras are about the size of a thumb nail.

In the UK we have the highest density of CCTV cameras in the world. I think I heard it was 1 camera per 14 people.

Does make you wonder.

PS: If Salford want help with video editing we have a lovely studio in Southamton.

Today should be a happy day in our household. My daughter has just finished her finals at University and is back home after 4 years away at Bristol. The inevitable wait for the results and job searching after a few days off I guess.

This morning I read an e-mail. Someone I knew well had died of cancer. It was a double shock as he is the same age as me and had always seemed so full of life. It was made even harder as he was part of the founders team at Lotus software (1-2-3, Symphony and Notes).

As a start-up it seemed to energise our lives. We shared a vision and so worked and played hard. We had a lot of fun even if we set ourselves a big task to change the world. It became a special group of people. Something to look back on years later and say ‘I was part of that team’. So much so that as a group many of us stay in touch and get together once or twice a year.

It will be our 25^th anniversary in 2 years time. People are coming from Australia, New Zealand and America. Sadly David will not be among them. We will have fun and tell stories. A few about David too so I guess he will still be with us after all.

My saga of customer service BMW style continues...

Still no response so I call the garage today. Everyone busy - they take my number and will call me back. Sounds familiar....

Yep. You guessed it. By noon still no returned call. Why set my expectations and then dash them? What sort of system do they run? Do the messages get lost or are they simply saving cash by forcing customers to ring back? Wouldn't it be better to just ask me to ring back in the first place? Not sure how this fits into the Customer Care Programme they must run.

I ring.

I speak to someone who looks up my original estimate. Looking good. But no - I spoke to soon. There is a problem. My order has a number of red marks against some of the parts. Why? What does it mean? The person who is handling my query is not sure. They will have to speak to someone more senior. Now? No everyone is busy. Oh no....they take my number and will ring me back.

4 hours later still no call. I ring again. This time I speak to someone who knows what the red marks mean. I have to explain my whole story again but at least we agree that the job will take only 45 minutes to fit a few parts - the rest I can take away and do myself.

I now have a date and a time. Yippee....

Now I just have to start the process of calling the insurance company.

Sorry. I forgot to say. This was all the result of my car being stolen in early June 2006. Now there is another story!  

Oh yes....what do the red marks mean? It means unallocated stock. No. I don't know. I didn't ask.

So what was my second bad experience.

3 years ago I bought a BMW. Not top of the range but a mid-model costing £35k. I say that to only put it into perspective. Love the car and until now loved the service - expensive but very good.

My car had a few parts that needing ordering and fitting from the last service. They had tried to interest me in a test drive of the new model while my car was being serviced but I was too busy. I had a quote for the parts and rang now - a month later - to book it in.

I was told they couldn't deal with my request as the 'system' was down but they would ring me back. I gave them them the job number and quote reference so they could look it up.

Thoughts:

• Not good for a garage selling £20k to £70k+ cars to have a systems issue with no back-up
• Great - they will call

What happened? No call later that day as promised, nor any of the next day. So I rang them to explain the situation. No appology, just a statement about the problems they had been having (now not computer but just workload) and a promise to get someone to call me 'when someone is free'. That was at noon. It is now 7.30pm and no call from anyone.

Does make you wonder. I want to spend something like £300 for parts and fitting. I am also potentially in a market for a car. Guess what I am thinking of doing? Yep - I will look at the local Mecedes garage.

Let's see what happens tomorrow.

Twice this week I have had poor customer service expectations where promises have been made and then dashed.

The first time started last week. I had placed an online order for contact lenses early in the new year, the money was charged to my credit card and an automatical e-mail sent to me confirming shipping. Nothing arrived after a week and half so I rang. The response was 'Sorry. We had a problem. Guess they didn't ship. We will get back to you later today or tomorrow and let you know'.

My thoughts:

• Why didn't they e-mail everyone a week before with that information? Why did I have to contact them?
• Why not an immediate answer or offer of some compensation?

It got worse.

No call that day or the next so I called them and had to give them the whole story again. She didn't acually say my story sounded wrong but all she said was I am not aware of any problem and I cannot see any notes on the system.

My thoughs now:

• I have two differing stories - don't they know what it is
• They said they would ring - they didn't
• I am told the conversation and promise of a ring back is not even recorded so what does that say about their ystem, processes or customer staff training
• I wasted 2 days waiting for a call back promised but never scheduled or recorded
• My story is treated slighly off-hand that makesdme feel distrusted by the company
• I am not offered any sort of compensation

Here I am almost a week and a half after my first call and still no contact lenses. I got a mailer through the door today offering half price lenses and eye testse one. All I want are the ones they charged me for! Have they e-mailed me to confirm shipping? No. So I will call them tomorrow and tell you what happens.

Last night was fun. We had some neighbours in to share the New Year with. We played board games and had a good chat which is nice as we are all often dashing about living our hectic lives we never really get a chance to meet and talk. My kids (21 and almost 20) had headed off to New York with my ex-wife to see in the New Year over there. They are back tomorrow so I will get an update on how New Yorkers party the night away.

We decided to make it a 'scrag-end' party. People brough left-over food from their Christmas celebrations. Whilst the name leaves a lot to be desired the idea was fun. I am sure someone would be able to get a real insight into people by what they eat but for us it was was just fun to created a 'shared table'.

The fireworks in London looked wonderful on TV. Shame Scotland and other areas had weather conditions that stopped their enjoyment.

I have made my resolutions. My first is to stick to them. Let's see how I do.

My Dad died a few years ago. After over 50 years of marriage Mum depended a lot on him especially for all financial matters and bill paying. With early stage dementia she is muddled at times and relies on my sister and I to handle all bills and paperwork etc. We do worry about her living alone but she hates the thought of living with either of us (doesn’t want to be a burden) or going into a home (that is for ‘old’ people). With good neighbours and regular checking she keeps going. But that is another story.

Why blog about it? Because of some sales tactics which must have been used by an energy company to get Mum to change gas suppliers. She has no idea where her gas and electricity comes from and leaves the details and bills to my sister. Mum is very careful who she opens the door to. Yet somehow a sales person from her electricity supplier gained access. They must have realised within minutes Mum is a little muddled at the best of times. Yet somehow they convinced her to sign a contract for gas supply and give them her bank details. The first we knew of it was when British Gas wrote to Mum to say ‘sorry you were leaving us’. Mum showed us the letter as she was distressed and said she had never seen anyone or signed anything.

When my sister found out she rang both British Gas and the offending electricity supply company. The later said they would cancel the contract and re-connect Mum to BG. Fair enough (and for their prompt action I have not named them here)....but it still leaves a bitter taste in the mouth.    

Just back from a walk in the woods to collect holly and ivy. Christmas carols playing, we are now decorating the house to make it welcoming for friends and family next week.

This traditional approach contrasts with the modern way we are approaching shopping this year.

For the first time we have bought most of our presents online. It’s not that we dislike the experience of going out shopping. Far from it. We do. But at this time of year you face increasing traffic congestion, jams and hard to find parking spaces.

So what are we doing? Amazon gets our custom for books, DVD’s, PC games and some electronic goodies. Other specialist sites will be getting our custom too this year. We use customer and magazine reviews to help narrow choices and then look at what places have good deals and availability. Car parking fees and the cost of petrol now matches or exceeds the price of postage and packing when buying online so it is a financially neutral decision.

The power of search engines, online stores and payment was highlighted just before we went for our walk.

Someone said they wanted a bow and arrow for their Christmas present! Now that was a totally new one on us. Where do you go for this? Traditionally I would have looked in Yellow Pages and possibly driven miles to find a specialist site or even given up and got socks, DVD and books!

The solution. Google it! (Note: Now Google is officially a verb as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as at June 2006) Result? Lists of shops and information sites all over the country. The second shop we looked at had a great web site and a phone number to ring. In three rings it was answered – not by a call centre but someone working in the shop itself. Small and specialist it was using a web site to increase its visibility and presence. Rather than simply sell us one of the kits they had on offer they talked us through all the options. This involved talking about the physical characteristics of the person we were buying the present for. This impacts the size of the bow and arrows and weight of pull. A new world of archery technology for us novices! Using the web site pictures they guided us through everything we needed. Within 5 minutes the order was placed, money paid and shipping arranged. We know one person who will be really happy this year – even if a little short on socks compared to normal.

Now for the Christmas dinner food and drink. Can we Google that?

Tomorrow is the end of an era.

The Open University is stopping broadcasting as new forms of distance learning such as the internet and DVD's takes over. These have been integrated into many courses already so the 'switch off' had to happen some time.

Having been an OU student for the last 4 years I can honestly say I will miss the programmes. They were a useful way of adding to information from text books and course materials even if some were looking a little dated.

I understand that there are also plans to cut back on Residential Schools and the frequency of tutorials. I think this would be a real shame as human interaction really helps with learning and understanding.

Next year - assuming I pass the assigments and exam - I hope to graduate with a Psychology degree. This will be the same year that my daughter finishes her degree at Bristol. Hopefully a double-graduation celeration! Although I am no spring chicken I will be a lot younger than the oldest person to graduate from the OU. They were 94.

Another busy week in the studio. The team was doing a photo-shoot with a teddy bear for a clients calendar. From what I was told, the statement - never work with children and animals - should be extended to include teddy bears! It is amazing how many hours are spent dressing and lighting the studio and then maipulating Ted to get into the correct position.

One of our clients makes batteries for all forms of transport. The photoshoot list for them usually reads - plane, train, boats and military vehicles. The team really enjoy themselves on this weeks location shoots.

The video edit suite was really busy working on a video for a Welsh village. There are some spectacular shots of the local scenery.

We also worked on creating large photo-imaging artwork for a clients reception.

We also met up with Gill Sandell of Serious Media. We have known and worked with Gill before on a project-by-project basis. We hope to working together on some CSR and Social Media programmes over the next 12 months or so. Watch this space...

The audio editing suite was also busy recording many hours of Italian voice-overs. No pasta for the crew - just lots of coffee to keep everyone awake!

I was just cleaning up some files earlier today and came across an 'old' picture.

It shows me (blue shirt) and Richard Knight (red shirt) getting 'gunged' by Mary Flavell at a Bracknell Chamber of Commerce celebration a couple of years ago.

It was the 1st anniversary of the First Thursday Club - a monthly breakfast business network meeting - the brainchild of Mary. Through Mary's hard work it grew from 12 attendees at the first event to over 60. I think the record was over 100 eventually.

Mary has moved on now. Richard is now President of Bracknell Chamber and I seem to remember the grunge going quite hard after a few minutes to everyones amusement.

Who says business meetings are boring. Certainly not while Mary was around.

It is just over a week since Rememberance Sunday and this weekend I read an article in a Sunday paper about the Youth of today. You know the sort of thing - too loud, too rude and spoiling it for others.

My Dad died 3 years ago on 13th November. Every year - including the year he died - he would be out in all weathers collected money for the Poppy Appeal. Although badly wounded in the RAF he thought himself one of the lucky ones to come home. In fact he  was one of 4 serving brothers - 2 in the RAF, 1 in the Army and 1 in the Navy. A lucky family - they all came back. None of them would talk that much about what happened despite my - and my cousins - pestering.

My son is 19. A year older than when Dad joined up in early 1940 and about the same age as when he escaped from a crash landing. A few weeks later Dad was flying again but by 21 he was facing the amputation of both legs following being shot down. He begged to keep them and the surgeon said he would try. Thanks to that surgeon, the medical team and Dad's sheer determination 12 months later he was walking with only the occasional use of crutches. He never could play football or cricket with me and my friends as his legs would give way and he only once ever flew again - prefering driving holidays.

Sometimes I lose my temper with my son and his friends. Too loud, too rude and spoiling it for others.

Then I think how grateful we should be to the youth of today and tomorrow. They are the ones who are in the frontline of every conflict. The sadness is that some never come home.

I went for a meal the other day with a friend and without really thinking we automatically ordered  water when asked what we wanted to drink. The location was wonderful - overlooking the Thames in Berkshire from an outside balcony - the sun was just strong enough to keep the wind at bay. The food was good. The wine very drinkable. The Thames looked lovely with lots of weekenders enjoying sailing or motoring up and down past the swans and ducks.

When we got the bill it didn't break the bank but the charge of £3 for the bottled water made me think. True the bottle looked lovely. The label a work of art and of course the water was something else. It was 'deliciously frisky and refreshing, 100% pure and natural' or something like that. I also hoped it had been drunk only once! (I understand that by the Thames reaches London 215 miles from its source 7 or 8 people have already drunk the water. I am not sure if that is true or an urban myth).

It got me thinking how lucky we are in the UK to have water as a resource at our finger tips (hose pipe ban accepted). We take such things for granted. The guys in the studio have recently finished developing a web site where some people are less lucky - in fact clean water is a matter of life and death for them. The Busogo Trust is a charity that helps people in Uganda get access to clean water.

As with most charities it is doing amazing work so next time I am out for a meal I will have the tap water (even if in London) and save the £3 to put to good use with the trust or others doing similar work.