Still Standing
April 30, 2008
Before I became a LUCRUM employee I heard a lot of rumblings about LUCRUM . My friends in the business were concerned about the mistakes LUCRUM had made in the past and the challenges that we faced moving forward.
When confronted with that, I asked my peers and I will ask you – what technology firm isn’t facing these challenges? Who do you know that hasn’t lost money in one of the last 10 years? Is there a group out there that hasn’t had layoffs, turnover or tremendous organizational shifts and changes?
I sure can’t think of one right now, I am betting not many of you can either.
But all this change is ok. Change isn’t comfortable for a lot of people but it is OK. One thing LUCRUM can proudly say after 15 years in this crazy industry is that WE are still STANDING.
Go back through your old contacts. I bet you would be shocked to see how many places that were well known in the industry 10 even 5 years ago that don’t even exist any longer!
I know of several firms that bit the dust. I was actually employed by one of them. THAT firm was one of the great ones in Cincinnati during the mid to late 90’s.
THAT firm had a growth rate of 50% per month for a very long time. Anyone that worked there made a lot of money and we were very proud to tell others where we were employed.
Where is THAT firm now? Well the first iteration has LONG been gone. After a multitude of acquisitions and name changes and leadership turnover THAT firm declared bankruptcy.
Within a blink of an eye our stock plummeted from 80 dollars a share to just around 4 cents a share. Just last week the second coming of THAT firm failed again and abysmally at that.
So as an employee or a client or a potential client please remember that LUCRUM survived. We survived the .com implosion, the 9/11 catastrophe, the Iraqi war (God Bless our Troops), the downturn in the economy and the exponential increase in foreclosures. We survived.
As a LUCRUM employee, I have a great place to come to work every day. LUCRUM hasn’t been through a dozen name changes or had a multitude of mergers. LUCRUM still has clients that have been with the firm for 15 years. THESE ARE GOOD THINGS!
So, whenever you wonder how is LUCRUM? Remember this – LUCRUM is still standing strong – 15 years and counting!
Business Intelligence, Country Music, Peter Drucker and You!
April 27, 2008
I get a lot of emails every day! I got this one that I didn’t delete and then felt strong enough to comment on it.
“In a recent survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), nearly 80% of executives said that a Business Intelligence strategy would improve their company’s ability to enhance customer service and react quickly to market changes. However, fewer than 15% felt their organization has applied best practices to its use of business data.”
I love music. I love all types of music. I am not a Country Music fan though. I am a fan of Country Music Song Titles. There’s a title to a country music song (no music yet!) that I made up about the business problem that is one of the biggest problems in the entire economy. Here’s what it is: Companies go to great lengths to hire top notch people. Then they give them business responsibilities and the authority to act on the business responsibilities. Then, they don’t give them the complete tools to get the right analysis to get to the “right decision.” So, here’s my song title:
“You don’t know what you have done by the time you’ve already done it”
Is that right out of Nashville or what? Decision-makers and categorically speaking, Knowledge Workers” are nowadays tasked with making a lot of very timely and important decisions. After we have them on-board with what famous business professor, Dr. Peter Drucker, says is the 20% unique aspects of the business (he professed that 80% of all businesses are the same)…once they really gain expertise and experience in the business, we don’t necessarily give them the right tools to analyze their data and the general performance of the business. Perhaps another song title goes like this:
“I know she knows, but I can’t get it out of her”
Certainly, what we mean here is that the data is in the system. The person just doesn’t know how to get it out!” Conceptual thinking skills are not the norm in the Information technology world. Operating software systems, running networks, ensuring security, closing double-entry book keeping systems, and the normal “run the business” part of IT constitutes a majority of the activity. How’s this for another song:
“His left brain won’t talk to his right brain, so he won’t answer the door.”
OK, perhaps that one didn’t work….
The lack of relevant facts or real understanding in the decision making process is so apparent to person trying to sort through all of the data that surrounds them. Recently, I read 2 more statistics:
• More information has been produced in the last 30 years than in the previous 5,000
• Corporate data is doubling every 3 years
I am myself, “what happens to all of this data?” Another song title?
“I spent too much time looking for my data when the decision timeframe has come and gone”
Gartner calls it the “Fact Gap.” It’s kind of a “decision gridlock” which even with gas at $ 4.00 per gallon or higher is what we are going to see this summer on the construction-laden highways!
So, how do you figure out whether there is a Fact Gap in your organization or business? Perhaps there’s truly is a Fact Gap in your business? Here are some potential symptoms for this:
Excessive discounting
• Expensive marketing programs that do not result in revenue enhancement
• New product introductions are less successful than expected
• Low inventory turns per year
From a knowledge worker viewpoint, you can start to see symptoms where decision making that is unscientific resulting in …
• Inefficiency in production
• Missed opportunities
• Inability to react proactively
• Lost market share
• Excessive expense
• Lost revenue and profits
• Customer dissatisfaction
Perhaps one last song title will provide a summary of my topic:
“She turned data into information and he didn’t even know he had the answers!”
If we can turn data into information and empower business decision makers with the information they need to run the enterprise, there’s certainly a true opportunity to gain competitive advantage.
Sphere: Related ContentEat our own dog food!
April 25, 2008
It’s great to see LÛCRUM eat our own dog food! That may sound negative but it’s really a very positive statement. I heard this phase regularly from a former manager. What this means is if a product or procedure is good enough to recommend to our customer’s, it’s good enough for us to use as well.
Yesterday I had my first opportunity to participate in an Alignment Session at LÛCRUM. In simple terms, an Alignment Sessions is one of LÛCRUM’s differentiating tools we offer to our clients to help organizations align on key business decisions.
Our LÛCRUM meeting was to look at a new internal system. Our senior management team and key system users followed the Alignment Session process to help drive to consensus and define next steps. The process helped us document the current system’s Strengths (ie, it’s free!), Problems (ie, too many manual processes), Threats (ie, might cost too much), and Opportunities (ie, interface with other business systems). From that point we were able to define our required Objectives and differentiate those from the ‘Nice to Haves’. Then we documented the Challenges (ie data conversion), Resources (ie PM, Sponsor), and finally our Game Plan (a high level project plan).
As the project manager of this internal project, I am thrilled to have at the end of the session all the information I need to complete a Project Charter and move forward on the project. In addition, I’m comfortable that the right people are aligned on the decision. I went home that day feeling like the day had been a big success.
We Win When We Talk About Them
April 17, 2008
I never thought I would pick up sales tips from James Carville, but sure enough it has happened. Over the past weekend I was watching one of the Sunday morning political shows, and Carville, joined by his wife Mary Matalin, was discussing the 2008 Presidential Campaign. Specifically he discussed one of the tenets of running a great campaign he learned from former President Clinton, who love him or hate him, was a great campaigner. The idea he put forth was so simple but so correct. “If we are talking about them, we are winning.” “If we are talking about us, we are losing.” Now, the idea behind his comment is perhaps a little different in the context of a political campaign as opposed to a sales call, but how incredibly insightful is that. The best sales calls often involve very little “selling.” If the person across the table from you is talking, and you are discussing them - not you - you are winning. I have experienced sales calls where you trot out every feature, function, advantage, benefit, company history, past clients, and on and on, only to walk away saying to myself, “I just don’t think we will win that one.” By the same token, many of the best calls I have ever made, involve asking questions, and then listening to someone else talk about themselves. Yes I can tell people LUCRUM is Cincinnati’s best provider of Data Warehousing, Business Intelligence, Collaboration, (all of which I believe) until I am blue in the face, but if I don’t understand them first, I am losing.
I observed this first hand today while on a sales call with two of my colleagues. We had a great meeting that lasted well over an hour, very little of which was spent discussing LUCRUM. In doing so, we identified numerous business problems LUCRUM can solve through our understanding of technology. More importantly we took the first steps toward building a new relationship with them based on understanding of their unique business needs. No pushy sales pitch. No dog and pony show. Just having a real and meaningful conversation about them When we are talking about them… we win.
Sphere: Related ContentDecisions Vs. Assumptions
April 17, 2008
Today I will be rather blunt. There is a misconception about decision-making that has plagued many companies and has contributed directly to the high failure rate (or perceived failure rate) of projects. This single point leaves us with an orientation that either directs us to success or leads us on a path to failure. Regarding project vision, goals, objectives, benefits, scope, requirements, usage, feature set and functionality, look and feel, navigation, data, relationships, CRUD, security, quality, strategy and anything else that is not plumbing…
“When IT makes decisions, they are really assumptions!”
Once we understand this point, we can really get down to setting direction and building relationships that help us (IT) drive value back through the business. Let’s look at this in more detail.
When IT makes decisions (about the project dimensions I mentioned above), it sets off a chain reaction and these are the results.
- IT owns the project. This leads to the business becoming disconnected from the process. The value that the project could have brought to the company is not realized because that disconnection exists. At the end of the day, IT ends up holding the bag because when it comes to implementation, there is no ‘real’ sponsor. Oh, there may be someone who has that role, but their real power has been usurped; and not because IT used their power for evil. IT really wants to use their powers for good, we just try to save time. And that is the slippery slope!
- IT ‘continues’ when they should ask. Maybe IT thinks they know the answer. It could be that the business doesn’t know and in trying to keep the project on time, IT steps up and answers. Or simply IT wants to move things along and skips this process all together and makes decisions. Either way, IT faces extreme pressures to keep timelines and costs under control. And its hard to see the long term impact of simply making decisions and “keeping things on track”.
- IT ‘continues’ when they should validate or verify. Once a decision is made, it is tempting to keep that momentum. That decision was made and no one got hurt – nothing destructive happened…so why not keep going, after all it will keep us on track and that’s what the bosses like to hear. Well, when IT makes decisions they must be validated or verified by their customer. Have you ever went in to buy shoes and they simply put a pair in the box after you explained what you were looking for? Most likely not – we need to look at it, touch it, try it on, feel how it performs, compare to other shoes and see how they bring value to you as a person.
- IT makes a lot of progress and most of it potentially in the wrong direction. Often times in my career I have managed what I think of as a thoroughbred. This is someone who explodes at the beginning of the project, excels throughout the middle game and ends with a sprint. They high performers are worth their weight in gold. But there is a cost. That cost comes in the form of … “Yes, you are going 120 MPH but you are headed in the wrong direction!” I have spoken those words more than once, that’s for sure. IT must ensure that we are delivering the right things, not just right away. IT must strive for strategic value over making everyone happy. IT must validate the ASSUMPTIONS (formerly known as decisions) at well disciplined and scheduled times.
- Project scope creeps. Trying to become all things to all people, IT has lead the application to a place where it actually meets no ones needs. It’s so broad that it’s too shallow to use. It’s like having a map of Ohio in actual size!
- Costs get out of control. Its like a nuclear bomb, you know its there and no one speaks about it for a long time. The costs keep growing and then one day…all life ceases.
- The project is late. But then it becomes very late, then its renamed but then its late again and so on. When IT can bring those decisions back to the customer the IT is holding a laser and can really make an impact. Alignment and focus on value leads to success.
- The business looses trust in IT. This is where everyone looses. The company does not receive the value that they need to compete. They loose competitive edge and have to rely on their existing momentum to take them places. The business receives pressure to perform. They are hesitant to team up with IT and put their futures in the hands of a group that doesn’t deliver. The business must make progress so they take on some projects; this leads to animosity between the groups and contributes to a further disconnection. Eventually, the business ends up with a shadow IT group. This leads to a degradation of standards which impacts quality throughout the organization. And so on…
I am just scratching the surface here. But the point is that IT makes assumptions and until they are validated by the customer (or the business) then they must remain just that… Assumptions. Its ok to make assumptions, but you can’t just leave them all over the place. Once they are made, there must be a process to convert them to decisions! This is done on many levels; from a simple phone call (and the supporting documentation appropriate to the need) to a full enterprise level governance effort where members from every line of business/functional group are represented (with a sponsor, formal charters, and a framework for interfacing with the other groups within the company).
Lastly, here is what I am not saying. I am not saying that the customer (or the business) lead the development project. What do they know about building applications? Chances are they can not manage a project. I am sure they don’t have much visibility in to the infrastructure (data, information, application, network/hardware…) and the strategies going forward. I am not even saying that IT makes the wrong decisions – often times they are technically right, after all, we are the technical folks, right? But how does that align strategy with value? How do we ensure that our customers are successful? … By becoming a partner (but this is another blog)! When we reach this level, communication is a two-way street. We are responsible at the fiduciary level for making assumptions and then converting them to real decisions!
Make the decision today to convert your group’s assumptions to real decisions! This is a principle that must be built within each team’s DNA. The easiest way to get there from here is to lead by example.
~ Scott Felten
Sphere: Related ContentMeasuring Success
April 16, 2008
So what does it mean to measure? Webster’s says to measure is “the act or process of ascertaining the extent, dimensions, or quantity of something; any standard of comparison, estimation, or judgment.”
One of the first lessons I learned during my career at P&G was “You get what you measure!” In other words, unless you’re tracking the activities that drive your business, you won’t know how you’re doing. Is the business healthy or not? In LÛCRUM’s Delivery Organization we’ve been focused on measuring a several key areas of our business over the last year. I’ll focus on 2 key measures - consultant utilization and engagement health.
Consultant utilization is key to our business health since our revenue is dependent on billable hours with a client. If we’re not billing hours, we’re simply not making money. Like any business, if we’re not making money, we won’t be in business very long. Not surprising, our goal is for all hours spent with a client to be billable. While there are times it’s necessary to provide ‘free’ effort, we obviously want to monitor that and ensure it’s in check. We also measure how many hours our consultants spend ‘selling.’ While selling is primarily a Business Development role, a consultant’s technical and business experience can be valuable in making a successful sales call.
Another area where consultant’s time will be spent is “developing the practice”. It’s important for us as a company to develop as individuals and to contribute to the development of the organization. Our contribution to the company might be working on an internal project or serving on a company committee. But one of coolest things I found when I joined LÛCRUM was the concept of “Geek Speak” and “Brain Brews” - technical and business training offered several times a month at lunch or after the business day. We’re each encouraged to attend as well as present to the organization. Yes, I’ve digressed from the topic of measures, but these sessions are really great!
So back to topic….On a weekly basis, the Senior Management team and the Delivery leadership spend time reviewing the overall utilization as well as drilling down to the portfolio and individual. We’ve learned a lot about how our time is spent and it’s helping drive business decision!
The other key area where I spend my time as the Quality Manager is tracking our engagement health. Key is to monitor the next ‘deliverable’ and through the use of conditional formatted ‘traffic lights’, monitor for those yellow and red light! It’s not rocket science, we’re currently doing this through an excel dashboard but it’s allowing us to see the current engagements in one view and ask ourselves questions about what’s going well or what needs attention.
While I’ve mentioned Senior Management and the Delivery leaders regarding the review of our measures, it important everyone knows and understands our Delivery measures. We recently made the information available to everyone through our Delivery Sharepoint site. This site provides weekly or monthly measure in dashboard format. In addition to utilization and engagement health, we also provide visibility to the revenue vs goal, bench, training, recruiting and years of service.
We’ve come a long way in the last year and the journey of Quality Management continues. Stay tuned…….
Sphere: Related ContentLUCRUM, Meatballs, and Marketing
April 10, 2008
Yesterday I, along with the LUCRUM business development team, got the opportunity to listen in on a live conference call with author Seth Godin, courtesy of SFEntrepreneur.com. It was excellent and extremely relevant to the future of business.
Seth discussed his latest book, Meatball Sundae, which is about the revolution that is taking place in business thanks in large part to the growth and expansion of the web and other associated technologies. Seth claims that the old model for business, and thus Marketing, is broken and dying.
The old way is: big media, big advertising budgets, limited communication channels, top down, interrupt people with average, sanitized messages about average stuff made for the masses. This is the Meatball part of the Meatball Sundae and represents the old way of doing things - classical marketing and advertising.
The new way is: infinite communication through infinite channels in all directions, constantly evolving conversations, consumer oriented, niche focused, web enabled, search driven, and completely at odds with what used to work. This involves employee development, R&D, a commitment to making something remarkable, listening, problem solving, blogs, wikis, social media, word of mouth, and other emerging forms of technology in marketing. It is the Sundae - the whipped cream with a cherry that everyone wants to put on top.
The problem many companies face is that they try to keep the old (Meatballs) and then combine the new (the sundae). What you get in the end is not something great, but rather something that just does not work. A Meatball Sundae - Gross. You can’t just take the old way of doing things, slap some “new marketing” on top and expect it to work. What is needed is a whole new mindset. One that is about empowerment, accountability, open communication, transparency, honesty, and creativity.
I believe that Seth is absolutely correct in his analysis of the current state of business, and that what he says can be applied to what we are doing here at LUCRUM. When I started here at LUCRUM a few months ago, I had just read this book for the first time. I am now re-reading it. We are trying to make the leap from yesterday into the future, and as a result we are making fundamental changes to who we are as a company. It is a new mindset. A mindset that is focused on how we can make our organization one that thrives in the world of new marketing, and not how to we use the new “cool tools” to support our old structure. Our cultural and structural changes have been a widely discussed topic as of late - even making the paper (meatball). Many of these challenges are not unique to LUCRUM, but rather represent the changing world around us. Further, our recent struggles merely validate the ineffectiveness of the old way of doing things and serve as an impetus for change.
We are striving to be the best in the world at using technology to solve the business problems of our Clients. I believe that our leadership team is committed to achieving this goal. Our blog represents this change on some level, but what I hope to ensure is that I am not the architect of a giant, disgusting meatball sundae of my own. I am very encourage by the fact that I see people here embracing a mindset centered on delivering incredible results for Clients. I see a company transforming into something amazing - something far bigger than “hey we have a blog now.” Yes, the blog is amazing. Yes I am very proud of it. Yes I am fascinated by the contributions of my colleagues to this experiment in marketing. But more importantly, I am fascinated and amazed by what it represents. Our people care - all of our people. Our people have a voice - all of our people. We are focusing on giving our clients and customers a voice too - all of our customer and clients. More importantly, we want to listen to that voice. No more of the highly sanitized corporate speak that plagues IT consulting firms. Just real, honest communication. We are on a journey. We have a long way to go. Still, look how far we have already come.
Back to the book… In it, Seth does a great job of identifying 14 of the trends that are shaping the future of business. They are as follows:
- Direct communication and commerce between producers and consumers
- Amplification of the voice of the consumer and independent authorities
- Need for an authentic story as the number of sources increases
- Extremely short attention spans due to clutter
- The Long Tail
- Outsourcing
- Google and the dicing of everything
- Infinite channels of communication
- Direct communication and commerce between consumers and consumers
- The shifts in scarcity and abundance
- The triumph of big ideas
- The shift from “how many” to “who”
- The wealthy are like us
- New Gatekeepers, No Gatekeeper
If you want to know what is driving the thought process of our Marketing, simply study these trends (or just read Seth’s blog). We will look to embrace these ideas wherever and whenever possible as we shape the future of LUCRUM. Everything we do is marketing, and thus everyone gets the opportunity to take part.
Thanks to Seth Godin and SFentrepreneur.com for putting the call together.
Sphere: Related ContentRun IT as a Business: Part 2, How?
April 8, 2008
In “Run IT as a Business: Part 1, Why…?”, I stated that we need to run IT as a business because our very existence is at stake. For IT to remain a factor alive it needs to compete. I talked about IT acting as a monopoly within the average company and how monopolies are bad for everyone; high prices, long wait and bad service. I also noted how competition is like the sandpaper that makes that rough wood beautiful and safe to handle. Well, today’s post is about the How.
The question then becomes how do we compete? There are strategic and tactical answers to this question. First, the strategic. Very easy…one word… “VALUE”. To compete in an economy one must provide more value than another. Its as easy as a man buying cloths but can be as complex as a women buying cloths J. I say this tongue-in-cheek, but the value equation is not straight-lined. Rather it has an infinite number of arrangements that are different to everyone and changes over time. Lets take a closer look.
Given: Value is relative worth, merit, or importance (www.dictionary.com).
Expanded, value can be represented as follows:
When we put this definition on the table, we cannot pretend that we don’t see the impact that image and relationship has with value. Nor can we escape that iron triangle (Time, Cost, Functionality)…and this value equation adds a fourth dimension; quality. I suppose that adding quality as a fourth dimension would make for a nice pyramid representation of that Iron Triangle (if someone creates one, I’ll post it here and give you a nice reference).
Take the example of my car buying value equation over time.
|
When |
Drivers |
Outcome |
|
Teenaged boy |
Car had to be fast, cheap and wanted it now. |
Picked up a 72 cutlass from some guy living in a trailer down by the river. Got it now, but it lasted 2 years. |
|
Married, first car together (how romantic) |
Cheap, cheap and good on gas. |
Bought a new 1985 Ford Escort for $6250. Financed it but wife wrecked – we drove it rebuilt until…see next box. |
|
Wife pregnant with first baby and I was working a lot. |
Price had to be decent, but wanted to reclaim some of my coolness. Wanted it black and sporty. |
Purchased a used Camaro from an Acura dealership. They took my wrecked Escort sight unseen and let me just finance the gap (what a sucker I was). |
|
Wife pregnant with third baby and we had no money. |
Needed it now and needed a miracle. |
Father in law gives us his Dodge Omni as it comes off of lease. I wasn’t choosy! |
|
Kids are growing older. |
Wanted a good quality van with leather and all the options so I can honor my wife. Wanted an extended warranty from a good place. |
Purchased a Chevy van with all the bells and whistles. Still have it, fantastic service department. 140k miles and running great! |
|
I turned 44. Two of the three girls are now driving. |
Wanted a sports car (convertible), black with manual transmission (so no one else in my family can drive it). Price still important as is image and relationship of dealer. |
Entered in to a partnership with the local dealership and picked up a new Crossfire with lifetime warranty. They know me by name and that’s important to me. |
Value is value, but it changed for me over time. Notice how even my term for buying a car changes…(picked up, bought, purchased, then partnership). At each stage of my life, I still made my decisions based on the value that I perceived, but my needs and current situation dictated which of the value elements were important to me.
It’s the same way with your customers – whether internal or external customers, they each have their own unique value equation and their current circumstances dictate even their own perceptions of their value equation. Often, it is a moving target that even changes between project stages. It is up to the IT leader to engage the customer and build a relationship – this means that during this partnering, we need to be learning how to calibrate our solutions into their value expectations.
But this is only an overview of the first part; strategy. The next part is where the work begins, tactical. How do we demonstrate to the organization that we have delivered this value? Tune in next time for Part Three: Run IT as a Business – Demonstrating the value of IT.
Drive safely,
~ Scott Felten
Sphere: Related ContentBlog Training at LUCRUM
March 25, 2008
Today, I was given the distinct privilege of presenting to my fellow LUCRUM employees on blogging. More specifically, I was tasked with teaching them how to blog. I was given 90 minutes, which is a long time to talk about something that is really quite easy to do. I spent some time discussing why it is important to blog. I touched on the changing state of marketing from that of a dialog to an interactive monologue, and stressed that their voices matter. I then went on to talk about ways to construct posts, do’s and don’ts of blogging, and then showed them just how simple it is to use WordPress. We touched on tools like RSS, digital cameras, Google Blog Search, and plain old note cards as ways to develop content. We even got into some emerging tools like Alltop and Snipshot. Overall, I think that everyone was interested. It is tough to present to such a diverse group - especially when many are far more versed in technology than I. The true test of the presentation will be very easy to measure. If you see more posts from more people, it worked. If not, I will go back to the white board. I am convinced that the people here at LUCRUM are some of the best and brightest in the world. My challenge is convincing them to share that brilliance with the rest of the world. If I can, what an amazing experiment this will turn out to be. Hopefully today was the first step in making that happen. Thanks to everyone who attended. You were a great audience.
Sphere: Related ContentMove Forward One Step…
March 16, 2008
As we continue to experience the global economic correction in the US economy, we hear about the perfect storm: inflation, recession, credit markets becoming unbelievably tight, and the general struggle with the value of the dollar. Day after day, this is all we hear, and yet, if you read a lot of financial performance news, you understand that many companies are at or ahead of their forecasts and the economy is more sound. Who’s right?
What you can’t do is bury yourself in the sand. “No action” tends to be the less-than-optimal solution, for sure. “Back to the basics” theory historically says, “one step at a time” and you’ll have a lot of progress in anything you try to accomplish.
It is the same way for the world of Fine Arts. Cincinnati, Ohio, has historically made an economic name for itself as a predominant manufacturing economy. It is more likely that a person outside of this area knows Cincinnati as a sports town with the Cincinnati Reds and the Cincinnati Bengals. In fact, Cincinnati is really a “Fine Arts” town. At the center of the Fine Arts is the Cincinnati “Fine Arts Fund.” It is distinguished by having the oldest arts fund in the United States. Founded by the esteemed Charles Taft in 1923, the fund has continued to grow and prosper supporting hundreds of fine arts organizations and programs over the years.
Did you know that a lot of IT professionals are also artists? I know several that are musicians and still play in bands. Others are artists using paint and other medium. We once even had a former ballet dancer as a client-server developer! I’m a brass guy (trumpet) that now is constantly playing jazz on my Gibson Les Paul guitar. On this last week’s business trip to New York, I crashed in on Stanley Jordan at the Iridium Jazz Club, one of my favorite hideouts in New York. Stanley is still young looking and fresh. In fact, he told me afterwards that he’s 48 and playing as well as ever. I purchased a CD from him that I have never heard of before: “Relaxing Music for Difficult Situations.” It’s a 60-minute jazz guitar solo. Perhaps we play it for our economy!!!
LÛCRUM continues to be a great supporter of philanthropic causes in the greater Cincinnati community. This year, LÛCRUM is proud to participate in our first Fine Arts Fund Campaign. As you may or may not know, the Fine Arts Organization is also one of our clients. In addition to being a client of LÛCRUM, the Fine Arts Fund (FAF) does wonderful work within the Cincinnati community and throughout the region supporting more than 95 arts organizations, promoting the arts, and developing outreach programs to thousands of area schoolchildren.
Recently, LÛCRUM and the Fine Arts Fund co-hosted an “IT Entrepreneur Leadership Networking Event” late last month with Chris Hjelm, CIO, of Kroger, as the guest speaker. Chris’ talent outside of being an IT executive, is that he’s a weekend chef. Cherry pies, chili, and other delights can be found at the Hjelm residence.
LÛCRUM put a lot of time and effort into making this year’s campaign as well as making a modest monetary commitment. From a time and effort contribution, I am committed to doing as much as possible to support the FAF in their efforts to reach the $12 million goal set for the 2008 Campaign.
Did you know that if you give a personal gift this year of $75 or more, you get to receive the “Fine Arts Fun Card.” This discount card allows you to enjoy the arts and save money at the same time! There are even more benefits for donors at the $150 and $500 levels in 2008. Please go to
Breathe deep and keep taking “another step!”
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