Dig the style and color of Nokia’s office space. Inspiring. Full slideshow.
Blog about design, new media, ministry and getting things done. — Larry Lundstrom
Archives for category: Uncategorized
Cy-Fair Fire Department Outside Home — Houston, Texas
We just found out that my wife’s grandmother in Houston, Texas lost her home and pet to a fire today, Saturday January 14, 2012. Please pray for them as they are devastated and unsure what to do. They unfortunately did not have fire insurance.
A space heater ignited and started the fire about 12noon on Saturday.
I was also asked by friends to post the link for donations to help the family find temporary and long-term accommodations. 100% goes to help Myra’s Grandmother and Uncle. Send a donation.
Sharing your story is never easy, especially if it is tough and you have spent many years trying to forget it. Here are a few blog posts and video interviews of Myra and I learning how to share our past. It’s not safe, clean or simple but it is our story. Hope you enjoy and we would love to hear yours.
Legacy or Leftovers Blog Post
What will you leave your family, friends and your community? A legacy or leftovers?
BIG Dreams Blog Post
Someone challenged me to define my BIG dream and asked if I still had it in me to go for it. Love it.
He Would Be Ten Today Blog Post
Remembering our three year on son Colby. We lost him to Leukemia in 2004.
Courageous Fighting Video
Myra and I sharing the tough times and mistakes we made in our marriage and why we chose to fight for each other.
America, Our Ever Present Past Video
This is the first time Myra and I talked about how we survived losing our son to Leukemia, her mom to Lupus and mine to domestic violence and what we did to keep our sanity during all of it.
Great UX for product promotion via streaming video. Why? The video promo is clearly the priority for the page. It plays the second you click it (no loading… waiting… flashbacks to dial-up…) and the content is incredible (multiple customers using products, fun, great soundtrack). Check out how the video is shot and edited after to look like it is happening right on the page.
Apple builds, promotes and integrates better. If you haven’t seen it watch here MTV.com. Then, visit your organization’s website and compare.
Every now and then I run across great design and work that is simply more than just inspiring. Work so good that it actually helps break the notion to stay in a pattern that has worked for a while and even if your clients love it — it may be time for a change. It may be time to reinvent.
If you are a leader, designer or creative you know what I am talking about. Every few years and often sooner you have to reinvent what you do and how you do it. Today I stumbled onto Josh Hemsley’s design site. I am truly digging the attention to detail. Good work man. See Josh’s work and other talented designers on dribbble.com.
Is it time for you to reinvent? Post who inspires you.
Like this:
The past month has been a painful yet funny experience at the Lundstrom house. We have officially gone without Internet access or at least have experienced painfully slow speeds (worse than dial-up) since a Sprint Wireless broadband tower has failed in our area. We currently live in the country and Internet options are limited (almost non-existent). Thought I would jot down how this affected us the past 30 days.
Effects of No Internet (+ positive / - negative )
- Time with Sprint on-phone/ in-store (-10 hrs total)
- Progress on design/development projects (-10-14 hrs weekly)
- Stressing about project timelines (-1 hr daily)
- Television watching (-1.5 hrs daily)
- Visits to Starbucks/Other for Wifi (+1-3 visits weekly)
- Chloe reading activity (+1-3 books weekly)
- Myra & I talking & hanging out (+2-6 hrs weekly)
- No Access to Xbox 360 LIVE (+1-2 hrs daily)
- Sleep (+6-10 hrs weekly)
Yes, we still would like to have Internet at the house, but it has been great in some ways to not have it available. The Internet or lack-of has changed the way we live.
Like this:
I have spent the day checking out the latest websites and organizations offering resources and information for ministry outreach, growth and leadership. There are a ton of mediocre resources out there but also some excellent tools and channels. It’s just getting harder to find the good stuff.
One of the organizations I follow is LifeChurch.tv. I visited their online resource site today Open.LifeChurch.tv and clicked the right arrow a couple of times to see “Learning Sessions” or webinars with the team to learn best practices, do’s, don’ts and to catch up on the latest resources they are making available (Open to everyone interested for FREE). These guys get it and have for some time now. Not just because they are open and available to all churches but because there is a common thread in everything they do. Open shows up in how they connect creative resources, developers, pastors, teachers and leaders at all levels of ministry and market to build the best tools and resources.
Open is a choice and at some point LifeChurch.tv chose to not keep their learnings and creative resources to themselves and the best part is they make their resources available to the public for free. This is not “new” news I know, it’s been going on for a while, but it’s obvious they are committed to the vision, they are committed to helping other churches have the greatest impact possible and they are committed to constant learning.
I want to challenge you to define where your organization is today. Are you Closed or Open. In creating and sharing new ideas, learnings and resources. It’s worth it. I bet you have some extremely valuable resources and contributors with incredible experience and ideas. I challenge you to redefine your goals and vision this year to include a focused effort towards Innovation and connecting with other like-minded organizations to achieve something greater than yourself.
Are you willing to be Open?
Recently I tweeted about The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s new comic book “Preparedness 101: Zombie Pandemic” (PDF link) and wound up talking with Matt Wilson with Ragan.com – News and Ideas for Communicators. You can read it here “Is CDC’s zombie comic book an effective communication tool?“
So what do you think? Good idea or not? To use such extreme content to get the attention of your audience? Was it effective or what would have been a better avenue? Smart content wins in my opinion — the CDC hit a homerun.
Is your organization primed to create good content? Comments
What happens when innovation is merely buzz and not based on something real? At best — nothing. Worst case you wind up creating a bubble and sooner or later it pops.
A particular energy company stood in front of Wall Street for a presentation on innovation “Less assets are more. The future of business is not heavy balance sheets and deep inventory but borrowing and investing, futures and contracts”. Everyone ate it up. New business was business-light, agile, less risk, more gain and profits are fast. This new innovation in the energy industry left the other guys scratching their heads trying to figure out how it was all possible. Then the truth was revealed. This revolutionary business concept turned out to be nothing more than “fixed trading and marketing” secured on invisible assets and fictitious companies — Innovation only by perception.
Innovation is transparent, it’s real. It’s proven. It’s not just theory. It takes time, investment and wisdom.
Is your organization making an impact? How so? Do you have high performance teams and are they empowered and accountable? Other questions to consider:
- What are your core areas of focus? How are they different from the other guys?
- Name specific areas or people that are making things happen.
- Are new ideas being brought into reality? Are they effective or will they be?
- Can you see a pattern of momentum? If it is healthy how are you fueling it?
- Is what you are doing sustainable?
- What do we need to stop doing to allow greater focus on areas that have momentum?
- Are you pre-investing in areas of potential growth?
- Are you connected and invested with other innovative organizations?
Ok. Back to work.
If you or someone you know is struggling to drum up business, probably the last thing they need is a new logo, website or a costly marketing effort. I have seen too many small businesses and even larger organizations invest a good chunk of change into their image only to end up at the same place they started — struggling.
Spending any amount of time or money for your appearance will do nothing if your product or service is not offering value. It’s like wanting to tap into the trading and marketing industry so you spend $1,200 on a suit and another $600 on a briefcase and stand on Wall Street and hope you bump into a trading executive that will give you a foot in the door. Doesn’t make sense, does it? Sure, you may look professional but more than likely you are going to just look like your someone standing around in an expensive suit doing nothing.
This is fresh on my mind because I recently developed an identity package and website for a home builder that is having trouble finding new business. Never-mind the residential housing market is in the toilet and most people already know a homebuilder they like and trust. They have been in the area for more than 25 years and have no significant stream of business, no referrals. Absolutely no word of mouth. Odd right? Something isn’t adding up. Either they are not offering a product that people want or their processes are just too complex or painful to hold interest. Want to know how to kill your business? Be complicated, be painful and don’t worry about finding that one thing that people are interested in.
Save your money for fueling momentum instead of trying to create a spark. You will know when your product or service is solid — you won’t be asking for help to drum up business, you will be asking for help in improving it or fueling it. Also, with the money that you saved, buy the book Rework by Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson. It will probably save you thousands.
Know anyone who had to learn this lesson the hard way or is about to? Feedback
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Heard on a radio program this morning about people learning to be great manipulators instead of great communicators. I had to turn the radio up for this one.
I love to hear and read anything I can about communicating clearly. I could not help it but I immediately thought about my marriage, how Myra and I communicate with one another. How we communicate and interact at the office (which happens to be the church for us) or even more, how organizations are communicating their message locally, nationally or globally? How clear is your message?
I think the question is, How well do you know your audience? The solution is to not over-complicate or over-glam your message, it is to clearly communicate what you represent. Just say it clearly, be honest. The rest is up to them. If you offer true value they will jump on it or maybe they won’t — it’s ok.
How well do you know your audience and do they know you care. It is critical that we are able to connect and communicate with those we interact with, our staff team, leadership team, co-workers, new people in the company or your organization. Your communication will not be effective until you get to know the people in your life — how they communicate and their unique perspectives. And you must not only know them but check your heart and ask yourself do you really care about that person? Are you really trying to communicate something of value or are you just trying to manipulate to get results that you want?
The true test (which is sometimes the most difficult and time-consuming) is to ask others what they think, how they feel and get their perspective. Get their feedback and insight. Learn about where they are and what is on their heart. Seems like if we did listened better, we would communicate better we would have better relationships, business impact and influence with those we care about the most.
That’s it. Ask someone, they will tell you — how clearly do you communicate?
Enjoy Easter with family & friends wherever they are! // Easter 2010 is LIVE Online!!! Send them to http://live.woodlandschurch.tv
First, let me tell you that I am amazed at how precise Strengths Finder 2.0 is at identifying and communicating your strengths. I have been wanting to take our team through this book and survey for a while now and just recently took the test myself. Wow and you must put it to the test is all I can say. http://strengths.gallup.com/
Here is quick summary of what it provides in your Strengths Finder 2.0 Report
Report for Lundstudio aka me
- Learner
- Strategic
- Achiever
- Responsibility
- Arranger
Shared Theme Description
People who are especially talented in the Learner theme have a great desire to learn and want
to continuously improve. In particular, the process of learning, rather than the outcome,
excites them.
Your Personalized Strengths Insights
What makes you stand out?
Driven by your talents, you thirst for new ideas and knowledge. Often you lose yourself in a
book. You pore over the ideas contained on its pages for long stretches of time. Why? You
want to absorb as much information as you can. Instinctively, you occasionally sign up for
rigorous courses of study rather than enroll in easy classes. This might satisfy your need to
master things that do not come naturally. Perhaps you trust you can handle unpleasant or
difficult assignments. Maybe the struggle to expand your knowledge, broaden your skills,
conquer your limitations, or fix problems motivates you to welcome academic challenges. It’s
very likely that you sometimes enroll in difficult or demanding classes. You might aim to
expand your knowledge or challenge your thinking about certain things. Chances are good
that you expect to be kept in the information loop. You want to know everything that is
happening. You desire to be kept abreast of the latest changes, even those that do not directly
affect you. Not surprisingly, you can become quite upset or frustrated when someone
accidentally or intentionally fails to pass along news about important projects, deadlines,
discoveries, problems, or successes. Because of your strengths, you are drawn to the process
of gaining knowledge and skills. You long to build on what you already know. You yearn to
improve on what you already can do. When you meet people who value education as much as
you do, you are eager to hear about their personal or professional ambitions, intentions, or
goals. Understanding what others aim to accomplish in the coming weeks, months, or years
can be the beginning of a practical partnership or an enduring friendship.
Many more tools and details available after you take the online survey. Get started and see for yourself http://strengths.gallup.com/.
What we can do to help those impacted by recent earthquake:
1. Pray for the people in Haiti.
2. Pray for our pastor of disaster relief Jerry Davis and our team as they go into Haiti and direct our relief effort.
3. Give to the relief effort to provide water filtration systems and other needed relief supplies to the people of Haiti.
Clicked onto Expedia.com to see how much it would be to visit family in New Zea-land next year. Looks like we can get the tickets for round-trip with 3 week car rental for about $1600 per person. Not bad actually. Then I stumbled on to their new Trend Tracker Tool – it tells you the trends on best time of year to travel (for cost). Digging it. So I know I was thinking initially about New Zea-land but I have been curious about the best possible time to visit Cozumel, Mexico and it looks like January is the best time to get out of town – around $360.00.
Love travel, love good deals. Love Expedia.com, still.
Celebrating the Life of Oral Roberts: The Man Who Obeyed God
January 24, 1918 – December 15, 2009
Join us online tomorrow for the live stream of Oral Roberts Memorial Services. http://www.orm.cc I am told there will be more than 200,000 people joining in to watch the online service. Amazing.
Here are some quotes from Oral Roberts from his site.
“Expect a miracle!”
“In the midst of the turmoil, the fear, the anxiety that’s in our nation and in our world, as I was walking and meditating, I heard the voice of God. I’ve heard that voice many times; it’s familiar to me, and there’s no way that I can fail to understand it’s His voice because I’m familiar with it.”
“God is a good God, and the devil is a bad devil.”
“Something GOOD is going to happen to you today!”
“God wants you well. God wants you prosperous. God wants you a whole person.”
“God came to take off you what the devil put on you,
To take out of you what the devil put in you,
To put back on you what the devil took off you,
And to put back in you what the devil took out.”“I respect doctors, and one reason is that they have grasped this eternal truth and are against sickness and for health. Consciously or unconsciously, they have a pretty good theology of healing. Sometimes I wish we Christians had such a good theology of healing. Then we might be less inclined to argue about whether it’s God’s will to heal or not.”
It all starts this November 2009!
Join us for this LIVE Online Event // Pastor Kerry Shook and Woodlands Church services online! If you are in the area join us at one of our three locations in The Woodlands, Atascocita or Tomball.
Or if you are elsewhere join us for our BETA test of Church Online and let us know what you think. http://live.woodlandschurch.tv/ Saturday 6:00pm or Sunday 9:30, 11:00am or Wednesday at 9:00am.
See you on campus or online!
Wow, great article posted front page on the Sunday, October 11 Houston Chronicle Newspaper. “Praise for Technology: Tweeting during church services receives blessings from pastors.” Really excited that Pastor Kerry jumped in and is experimenting with new technologies and connecting with the congregation. I am still amazed and how church is viewed and how this sort of thing might create controversy in the public. Check out the comments and the rest of the article here: http://www.chron.com/disp/discuss.mpl/metropolitan/6662287.html
Seems to be a bit of a controversy Tweeting in church. What do you think? Cast YOUR VOTE. Also, fun note: just got off the phone with my other half and she said this is the main article on the front page of the printed edition!! Amazing. Give a quick hello to Pastor Kerry via Twitter and maybe follow Woodlands Church if you want to track with us.
Great article! Your comments and thoughts can be posted via the huge button below.
Are you the next Zuckerberg? Really, how so? Tell us how you are cranking out the next big thing. Or maybe you know someone who is a true inventor – innovator. Are you cranking on stuff that is going to change the way we do life? Even small innovations can be huge in the long-term. Just curious about what’s next and what you are doing right now that will shape the way people interact. Is it You? Or someone near you? Who do you think is the next Zuckerberg?
“Initially Zuckerberg asked a small group of people to sign up to Facebook. At a certain point he told us to start inviting friends, and that is what we did on the first and second day which the site went up on the Web. We could only invite students enrolled at Harvard. In fact, if you did not have a Harvard e-mail address you could not sign into Facebook. At first, dozens of Harvard students registered. The numbers then reached the hundreds, and by the fourth day it had already reached the thousands. People were very enthusiastic about the site. It enabled them to know who took what courses and to meet new people. It conquered Harvard. In less than a week, some 4,000 students signed up for Facebook.”
During Facebook’s initial days, the walls in his room were filled with graphs and charts which showed how many people joined on a daily basis, who used what application, and who has the most friends.”
Beginnings of Facebook
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1084443.html
MIT MBA (E&I) Program
http://entrepreneurship.mit.edu/E_and_I.php
Posting ongoing comments here from speaker from the Willowcreek Summit 2009. Amazing again. http://www.scribblelive.com/Event/Leadership_Summit2
Did you attend? Amazing. Also, check out the summit Facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/LeadershipSummit?ref=ts
