Thank you, Stephen Colbert, for this bit on how wrong overconnectedness can/haz gone:

Non -USA kids,  try this version.

(via 37signals)

I’m lucky enough to have some very creative friends. I thought I’d share a few things we’ve worked on together.

Music

En Route to Traverse City

I travel a lot for work, and have started toting my musical apparatus with me. This is an idea laid out in a hotel in Traverse City, Michigan.

Immediately after recording this, I walked outside and watched an entire family flop over their canoe in the lake, scream at each other, and then burst into laughter. It was entirely too cold that day to be canoeing.

Liquid Lunch Theme Song

Almost a month ago my buddy and colleague Matt Davis gave birth to the weekly BlogTalkRadio show “Liquid Lunch.”

This little intro piece is musical collaboration with my brother Drew (you’ll recognize the beat from “Frost/Dixon” just below). Everything you hear is either a mouth or a cup of water.

Frost/Dixon

This is a musical collaboration with my brother Drew we began over Thanksgiving. The lyrics are from the Robert Frost poem “The Need of Being Versed in Country Things.” Hence, the bad joke for a title.

I hope we finish it over the Christmas holiday.

Videos

Below are a few videos I worked on with Daniel Miller, Carter Martin, and Charlie Trotter for CTCE’s brand new (massive) in-branch TV screens. Some of you have seen a couple of these on Twitter.

Doodles

And just for fun, here are a couple of doodles snapped with my iPhone.

I’m making some slight changes to the design and layout of this site over the next few days. If you come visit and something looks whack, that’s most likely the reason.

That, or I just happen to have some whack-looking thing on my site.

There’s a Kurt Vonnegut short story about an alien named Zog who visits the planet Earth. He comes with the noblest cause: to explain how war could be prevented and cancer could be cured. His home planet is Margo, where everyone communicates through farts and tap dancing.

Zog landed at night in Connecticut. He had no sooner touched down than he saw a house on fire. He rushed into the house, farting and tap dancing, warning the people about the terrible danger they were in. The head of the house brained Zog with a golf club.

(from Breakfast of Champions)

What a nice picture of the relationship between credit unions and young people. Both need to reach each other, badly, but both tend to completely miss each other. And then someone gets clubbed and a house burns down.

Gen Y needs help.

Here are some snapshots of the state of the union (pulled from the Filene report “Reaching Generation Debt“):

• By 2004, people under the age of 25 were the fastest-growing age group in bankruptcy declarations ¹
• Also in 2004 (the latest year with national data) 25 - 34 year olds with credit card debt used an average 25% of their income to pay off debt, and 45% of them used credit cards for day-today-living like rent and groceries. ¹
• As if we need another crisis: “Analysts say rising defaults, coupled with federal subsidy cuts, are beginning to strain the student loan industry…the question is whether a similar crisis [to the mortgage crisis] is on the horizon for student loan borrowers.” ²
• More than half of Gen Yers aren’t saving for retirement because they’re busy with other financial obligations…like paying down their massive debt. ³
• Financial products are more complicated - 401(k)s, IRAs, student loans, and credit cards are all relatively new - and financial literacy is as dead as a doornail.

I could go on, but you get the picture. The situation is dire. Because credit unions’ actions are driven by people and social responsibility, and not lining the pockets of stockholders, they are the group to get us out of this mess.

All growns up (too growns up).

Because credit unions and their members are dying (sadly, I mean that literally). Here are some bits that most CU industry folks have heard before:

• The average age of a credit union member? 47 years old. The average age of a board member? 52.
• Prime borrowing years are 25 - 42. And as the older members continue to age, their borrowing needs dwindle and they want a higher yield on investments.
• I don’t know the stat offhand, but I do know that credit unions are merging and shutting down like crazy. Maybe one of you can help me with that in the comments.
• Only 6% of people ages 19 - 24 have said they’d use a credit union for their next financial product. ⁴

To quote Cornerstone’s Steve Williams:

The point is, we’ve got to replace the old customers that we lose – God bless ’em – with new, younger ones.

Again: The situation is dire.

What can we do about it?

Let’s get our hands dirty.

I’m completely floored to announce that I’ve partnered with the Filene Research Institute for the next year and a half to lead their Young Adult Implementation project. The project picks up where Ben Rogers and the 30 Under 30 (not a bad band name) left off - I’ll work with credit unions to put Filene’s Gen Y products and strategies into action.

I’ll be working alongside some of the smartest people in the industry helping to solve the problems that get my belly all firey. It’ll be hard work, it’ll be exciting, and together we’ll make people’s lives better.

Let’s do this. Who’s in?

Every exec in the world should set down their cigars for a second and read the first chapter of “Make It Bigger,” by Paula Scher.

Corporate Politics 101 -

“I quickly learned that the judgments made about graphic design in corporations, institutions, and organizations composed of more than one decision maker often have little to do with the effectiveness of a given design in the marketplace and more to do with how human beings naturally behave in complicated hierarchical environments.”

This 2-part video has been around for a while, but a recent conversation reminded me of how great it is. In these two videos, This American Life’s Ira Glass breaks down the ingredients to creating a great story. Among them: the balance of movement, curiosity, meaning. Dig it:

Also worth revisiting, but for entirely different reasons: the grape lady video.

Some of the best musicians I know have the most ridiculous music tastes I know (”I don’t know, I just love Céline”). A couple of them rarely even listen to music. They just write it. This “Ignore Everybody” approach helps them make their ideas happen without distraction and self-edit.

Other friends are inspired - they love going to shows, looking at art, reading books, talking perspectives. This outside perspective opens up new directions in themselves they didn’t even know were there.

What about you?

Does consuming ideas - music, art, essays, stories, tweets, talks, articles, and on and on - open your eyes and make you want to make things? Does it make it harder? Or do inspiration and solidarity compliment each other?

My good friend Carol Schillios is living on a roof for as long as it takes to raise $1 million to support women and their families in developing countries.

All she’s asking: That you donate $1 to the Fabric of Life Foundation, and accompany that donation with a small act of kindness.

Click here to read some of the amazing success stories from the work Carol and her foundation have already done.

If we work together, each using our own voice and personal network, we can help get her off the roof in a jiffy, before she catches a deatha-cold.

Here’s an idea to help:

1. We each donate a dollar (or more), and perform a small act of kindness.
2. Tweet or update your Facebook status with your one small act, along with this link to Carol’s site http://bit.ly/qQaec and the hashtag #imupontheroof.For example: “Complimented a stranger on the subway. http://bit.ly/qQaec #imupontheroof”
3. Bonus: Change your Twitter location to “Up on the roof with Carol.”

The hashtag #imupontheroof is a nice way for us all to remind Carol that, although not physically, we are up there with her in thought and spirit. It’ll also help us keep up as more people tell their stories. (Click here if you’re wondering “what the heck is a hashtag?”)

Finally, encourage everyone you can to do the same by emailing, tweeting, blogging, Facebook(ing), and on and on.

Most of us are unbelievably connected and use that power to share opinions, jokes, goofy youtube videos (here’s a good one), and so on. This is an opportunity to use it for something much bigger.

Follow along:

• Carol is on Twitter as @schillios.
• She’s also on Facebook.
• Her blog is upontheroofwithcarol.org.

Today my mom gave me some sass about the fact that I haven’t written on here in almost a month. First of all, I didn’t even realize she read this thing unless I sent her the links. High five to that.

A couple of weeks ago, Terrell (@texast) tweeted this:

I almost tweeted something that falls in the TMI category. Decided not to, but will blog about it later! I must share. what’s wrong w/me?

I feel the same way: I can’t shake the pull to document and share. This week’s break from Twitter helped ease that knee-jerk desire to post a thing when it happens. It makes it easier to be present and enjoy that thing in the moment without worrying about how to communicate it as a digestible snack.

This bit of text from the header of Ze Frank’s blog says it well:

This is my blog. Sometimes I don’t write for a while, that usually means I’m doing something else. I didn’t forget about you though. I like you.

I do like you. When I take breaks from sharing, I start to feel like a hyperactive little kid - wiggling in my seat, ansty to ask you things and tell you  what I learned today. I miss the conversation. We’ll talk soon.

Is your immediate reaction to interesting haps in your life to document and share them? If so: is that a new thing, or has it always been the case?