Honk if you're human!

I read a great short piece in Wired this month by Josh McHugh based on Tom Vanderbilt's Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (And What It Says About Us).

The book basically argues that our traffic problems are a microcosm of the inefficiencies that rule our behavior. He suggests that, for example, data packets have little difficulty maneuvering their complex highway. Why? Because they operate out of interest for the entire system. In Vanderbilt's words, "The fundamental problem is that you've got drivers who make user-optimal rather than system-optimal decisions."

Of special interest, he says the drivers who speed down the merging lane and duck in at the last second are actually helping the overall efficiency of traffic. So next time someone cuts you off from the merging lane, give them a smile and a thumbs-up instead of the finger.

This thought made me consider the little inefficiencies that can keep me short of my best.

What do you think of Vanderbilt's metaphor?

Photo Gracias: Nrbelex.

Have we forgotten strategy?

Credit for launching this thought today goes completely to Geoff Livingston and his post.
Have we, as PR practitioners and communicators, become too focused on all the cool new tools available to us and forgotten the original mission? Perhaps, but I'll give us a little credit here. There is a sea of tools available out there, and very little public understanding of what they are or why they exist. The digital divide also weighs very heavily into this problem. I'd suspect that you could convince a senior citizen to pick up a Wii controller much easier than opening a Facebook account, for example. I hear the "that stuff is just not for my age group" comment more than I would like. The ugly secret is that "they" would love this stuff if they could get over the initial hump of adoption.
Secondly, I had a friend in my band in high school that used to joke about any topic that came up, "Hey, why don't we write a song about that?" In PR, sometimes we use the same thinking related to writing press releases or mailing newsletters, for instance. In a later post, I'll mention why we need to get in touch with our inner four-year-old and ask "why" more. Why a newsletter? Why a press release? Why a blog? Why? Why? Why?