day 1001: Inquiring Minds Want To Know

"Go to the Temple and speak to the LORD for me and for the people and for all Judah. Inquire about the words written in this scroll that has been found."

I have taken liberty with the pun, "Inquiring minds want to know". I knew this quote back in the day as the first word being spelled, "Enquiring".  That is from the tabloid rag, "The Enquirer".  Regardless, it holds up that those who are inquiring do want to know more.  The new TV ad is out with the blind test between Bing and Google as search engines.  I had to laugh the first time I saw it as someone in the ad agency must have come in and showed the Microsoft marketing team the power of the Pepsi vs. Coke blind taste tests of the 1980's.  And why not, as that advertising campaign worked then, and it can work now, just in a different age.  What I also find interesting about this ad campaign is that the premise of a better search engine is one that does the better inquiring for us.  For instance, if we wanted to search blue, we can't just put in the word blue and get what we want. That is because the painter is looking for different shades of blue, the psychology student is looking for how people use the word to describe their mood and the Will Farrell fan wants to see the clips from Old School. So, we have to modify the search.  What technology can do for us to get us the best search results is yet to be seen.  It's not only about how we inquire, but how the technology knows us. That is where it is all going and in our businesses knowing how someone inquires about our products and services so we can deliver to them what they want in the fastest and fullest way is a competitive advantage.

I am finishing up a biography on Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I'm actually listening to it as an audiobook and it is fascinating. Bonhoeffer was a true student of the God's Word and he came up with his ways to study and learn the Bible.  I was most struck by a statement that he said about how his life changed when he stopped reading the Bible and instead began to "Inquire it". I'd never thought about using the word inquire as a verb when it came to reading the Bible, but that pivot of thinking can be a real life changer if we let it be so.  God's Word is there to open up Him to us, if we decide to truly get inquisitive.  There is no substitute for what was written and prepared as a direction gift for our lives.  How much we want to inquire defines how much we want to know. Let's be people who always, when it comes to God's Word, have inquiring minds that want to know.

Reference: 2 Kings 22:13 (New Living Translation)

day 996: Verismo

"He went in alone and shut the door behind him and prayed to the LORD."

I was at Starbucks yesterday and I got a look at their new coffee maker called the Verismo.  It's a one cup coffee maker.  It is sleek and looks very modern and efficient.  But, as I went to make a demo cup of coffee I realized that their new machine uses a proprietary coffee capsule.  It's not the standard capsule that has become usable across many Keurig and other types of coffee makers.  As I reflected on this, I wondered; "Is this brilliant in the sense that they have so much to offer that they can go it alone and get their consumers to purchase the machine and their own coffee capsules?", or "Are they overly confident and arrogant that they think that they can create their own hardware and force their consumers to do something new?"  I don't really know, but at the end of the day, Starbucks has made a decision to give it a go and we will see...can they make it on their own, or will they get caught trying to create something that can't be created?  It's the longstanding question - go it alone or follow on with the market and come out on top of the market because there didn't have to be extra investment to try and create, market, and find consumer adoption on their own?

The question that companies have to ask themselves, we need to ask of ourselves as well. Are we people who will want to go it alone, with all of the risks and dangers that come with being alone, or do we put our full reliance on God and never walk alone?  Walking alone, while it doesn't make real sense, may be just in our nature and so we have to be brought to situation over invitation to put our reliance and trust in God and to not go it alone.  As we walk into this day, we should take stock of our own "Verismo" strategy.  Are we so big, so powerful, so influential that we can go it alone?  Or, are we ready to give ourselves over to the One who never leaves us alone and actually meet Him with where He wants us to be, alone with Him.

Reference:  2 Kings 4:33 (New Living Translation)

day 480: The Reason For Accounting

Accounting departments are important and have become even more so in the last 10 years since the passing of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act where greater transparency was regulated. But, have you ever thought about why we need accounting and accounting firms? As I was reading in the book of Kings, I saw a reason. We need accounting as it stems from the same reasons we need referees, umpires, officials and policemen; to keep us from breaking the rules and the laws. When we were kids on the sandlot playing basketball or football we didn't have referees. We called our own fouls and when there was a dispute it got worked out. When higher levels of competition or money gets involved then all of a sudden, we need other people to account for how we play the game. The same could be said for work. There are no accountants on hand at the lemonade stand or on the paper route, but somewhere along the way, we need them to be sure that the books balance and the cash is routed in the right direction. We need the accounting to keep us safe from ourselves. In 2 Kings 12:15 we read; "No accounting was required from the construction supervisors, because they were honest and faithful workers." So, it may be that we are our own worst trouble makers when we decide to cut a corner, not tell the truth, or break a rule. The accountants are watching and beyond that we are being "accounted" for in a much bigger way. Let us be the examples of why the accountants don't ever need to be called onto our jobs.

Reference: 2 Kings 12:15 (New Living Testament)