Square Dancing with The Carters on Main Street

Plains is so much like the little towns of Gilliam and Belcher where my roots are in Louisiana. The food was excellent; the square dancing was the best. We do-si-do’d with President and Mrs. Carter, along with our 200 new friends. Jenny almost swung the FFL (former First Lady) a little too fast. I will never forget the expression on Rosalynn’s face when Jenny’s finished the “swing and whirl” call. Overall, the evening was lots and lots of fun.

Tour of Jimmy Carter's boyhood home in Plains

We walked with the Carters to Mom’s Restaurant for fried chicken (like my Mom used to make) and awesome pecan pie (like my Granny used to make).

After a short train ride, we had a guided tour of Jimmy's boyhood home.

The afternoon concluded with a Secret Service presentation – learned about the Carter security detail and how they keep up with the “protectees”. Very interesting, although nothing classified was share (and the agent didn’t just make me say that). The POTUS was on the move…and the FFL was right there, too.

4/18 with The Carter Center -- welcome to Plains, GA

We began our afternoon in the President's hometown at the high school. He shared personal stories of his childhood, marriage to Rosalynn, start in politics. It added a lot more realism to stories I had read in his books “Hour Before Daylight” and “Turning Point.” (And the auditorium looked just like my elementary and high schools.)

1-hour dialogue with President and Mrs. Carter

We experienced a full hour of informal Q&A of with the former president and first lady. They addressed a wide range of topics on world affairs, mental health issues, and future vision of the Center’s work.

PR Efforts at The Carter Center

Deanna Congileo, Director of Public Information – in the final briefing of the day, Deanna reviewed the wide reach of news media initiatives and introduced many new features of Center website, http://www.cartercenter.org/

Visit to Carter Presidential Library

We enjoyed seeing a full-scale replica of the Oval Office as it was when Jimmy Carter was President. We also saw the behind the scenes operations of the research library. Plus, the grounds were in bloom.

3 executive briefing on peace programs at The Carter Center

Dr. John Stremlau, VP Peace Programs – highlighted the “bottom billion” of world’s population

Dr. David Carroll, Director of Democracy Program – shared the efforts in election monitoring to ensure equal suffrage, universal suffrage, right to vote, and secret ballot

Mr. Tom Crick, Associate Director of Conflict Resolution – detailed work in Liberia to instill “rule of law”

4 executive briefings on health programs at The Carter Center

Dr. Donald Hopkins, VP of Health Programs: emphasized the Center's mission to focus on diseases that others have forgotten or ignored.

Dr. Frank Richards, Director of River Blindness program: the black flies that carry the disease are being addressed with river abate.

Dr. Ernesto Ruiz-Tiben, Director of Guinea Worm Eradication program: we're in the final stages of complete elimination. (We have a water filter pipe they use)

Dr. Thomas Bornemann, Director of Mental Health program: the biggest development is a new law that gives mental disease “parity” with physical diseases in the areas of treatment and insurance coverage.

4 misconceptions of mental health: "Conversation" program at The Carter Center

We arrived at The Carter Center yesterday afternoon for the Ambassador Circle briefing conference.

One panel discussion was already in progress on Middle East peace efforts of the Center. The speakers were John Stemlau, vice president of Peace Programs; Hrair Balian, director of Conflict Resolution Program; Karin Ryan, director of Human Rights Program; and Sarah Johnson, assistant director of Democracy Program.



A nice reception followed so we could meet the staff and mingle with the hundred or so other guests.



In the evening, the "Conversation" event reviewed Mental Illnesses: Myths and Realities.

Mrs. Carter opened the program by highlighting that our knowledge of the brain and the biological basis of mental illness has helped reduce the stigma. And that a new bill was just passed to create parity for mental illness with other physical illnesses in insurance coverage.

Noted mental health and anti-stigma experts Dr. Patrick Corrigan from IIT, Dr. Ben Druss from Emory, and Charles Willis of the Georgie Mental Health Consumer Network addresses four primary misconceptions that are the most harmful to efforts to improve access to mental health care and fight discrimination against people with mental illness.

Myth 1: People with mental illnesses tend to be violent. (They actually suffer more violence against them)

Myth 2: Most mental illness is treated by psychiatrists and psychologists. (More is treated by general practice, and even more in school, church, and group settings)

Myth 3: These are conditions from which you cannot recover. (Symptoms are treated with meds, but the true causes are treated with a full network of support. Studies have shown majority of patients can fully recover.)

Myth 4: Stigma is deeply rooted and unlikely to change. (Contact with "real" patients can create greater dignity and respect)







The discussion will be facilitated by the Center's Mental Health Program Director Dr. Thom Bornemann.

The program will be posted in the archived section of the Carter Center website at http://cartercenter.org/involved/conversations/webcasts.html

Even in tough economic times, new GEEK INSURANCE technology support brand launches in Boise

Let's hear it for the brave entrepreneur -- especially Paul Brundage who is launching a new technology support company Boise. The new company is called GEEK INSURANCE and it specializes in unlimited support for home and small businesses technology.

In our StinsonGEM office in Boise, Michelle helped get Paul and Geek Insurance wide P.R. exposure like this on Fox Business.

http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/energy/tough-economic-times-new-geek-insurance-technology-support-company-launches/

Geek Insurance covers computers, televisions, mobile devices, game consoles, and home entertainment equipment. It offers unlimited support through phone, online chat, and remote trouble-shooting. Its unique online ticket system allows customers to submit questions or needs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The website is www.MyGeekInsurance.com and the phone number is G-E-E-K-2-2-0.

In announcing the launch, founder and owner of Geek Insurance, Paul Brundage said, "We are like an insurance policy for your technology. With most people using their computers for work, the last thing they need is for something to happen. We take that fear and stress away by offering unlimited support. We are prepared to not only assist in fixing any technology issues, but also will help in setting up the systems to prevent problems from occurring."

Brundage continues, "People are using technology more than ever right now to work, look for work, and stay connected with family and friends. We want to give peace of mind that if you have trouble with your systems, we'll be right there to help no matter how often you need us. Technology is our passion and we want to help you get the most out of yours."

Not only is Geek Insurance starting a new small business in Boise during challenging economic times, but it's also helping boost the local economy by hiring local support technicians to answer the calls of customers, using a local call center, buying advertising from local media outlets, and engaging local web, marketing, and public relations consultants.

Brundage recognized what an ambitious venture this is, saying, "I had to ask myself if I had the appetite for risk and the fire in the belly you need as an entrepreneur. Of course, we'll have to put good business skills to work, too. But I made sure we've shaped the opportunity and have a strong business model - including a revenue model that assesses our costs and a price that's attractive in this market. Most of all, we have a solid offering that is completely customer-centric."

Stay tuned for some interesting updates on how our StinsonGEM office in Boise is partnering with Paul.

4/16 Conversation at The Carter Center -- looking at the nature of mental illnesses and misconceptions faced by those affected

Tomorrow evening, Jenny and I will be attending a Conversation program at The Carter Center in Atlanta entitled “Mental Illnesses: Myths and Realities.”

Mental illnesses constitute some of the most serious, unrecognized, and under-reported health problems in the United States and around the world. Mental illnesses are extremely common — one in four Americans will experience one in their lifetime — yet advances in treatment and understanding of mental illnesses have not changed public perception of these disorders. Many people incorrectly believe mental illnesses cannot be treated or that a person with a mental illness is more likely to be violent.

Noted mental health and anti-stigma experts Dr. Patrick Corrigan, Dr. Ben Druss, and Charles Willis will address these and other misconceptions that are the most harmful to efforts to improve access to mental health care and fight discrimination against people with mental illness. The discussion will be facilitated by the Carter Center's Mental Health Program Director, Dr. Thom Bornemann.

As part of an international effort to reduce stigma and discrimination, The Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism provide stipends to journalists to report on topics related to mental health or mental illnesses.

The goals of the fellowships are to:

1. Increase accurate reporting on mental health issues and decrease incorrect, stereotypical information.

2. Help journalists produce high-quality work that reflects an understanding of mental health issues through exposure to well-established resources in the field.

3. Develop a cadre of better-informed print and electronic journalists who will more accurately report information through newspapers, magazines, radio, television, film, and the Internet and influence their peers to do the same.

Here’s a news story from our local ABC station, WLS-7 that aired on Monday, August 18, 2008. The reporter is Kevin Roy, who received a fellowship from The Carter Center for mental health journalism.





And you may search the archives of other fellowship recipients at
http://www.cartercenter.org/health/mental_health/archive/by_name.html

What’s holding you back from being amazing?

“I’ve been absolutely terrified every moment of my life—and I’ve never let it keep me from doing a single thing I wanted to do.”

A powerful quote from a powerful artist, Georgia O’Keeffe.

1 man’s name in the title, but a book that’s a true collaboration: new historical insight into the classic medical text "Gray's Anatomy"

"Gray's Anatomy" is one of the most famous medical books of all time, but if a picture is worth a thousand words, then the man most responsible for the success of the book was its long-forgotten illustrator, Henry Vandyke Carter.

In "The Making of Mr. Gray's Anatomy," Ruth Richardson shows how Carter and Henry Gray came together to produce a classic that originally bore neither of their names -- it was published as "Anatomy Descriptive and Surgical" -- but she also affords us a remarkable glimpse of science in the 19th century.



"The Making of Mr. Gray's Anatomy"
By Ruth Richardson
Oxford University Press, 288 pages, $29.95

The book is reviewed in the Wall Street Journal by Dr. Mark F. Teaford, professor of functional anatomy and evolution at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

He writes:

The setting is London in the mid-1800s, a time before anesthesia and antibiotics, when physicians were trained in many ways, at many places. Britain's Anatomy Act had been in effect for more than 20 years -- guaranteeing sources of bodies for medical dissection but having a frightening effect on the poor and sick of Victorian England. Previously, "the only legal source of corpses for dissection in anatomy schools had been the bodies of murderers fresh from the gallows," Ms. Richardson writes. With the passage of the act, the bodies of those who died in Victorian workhouses and hospitals and went unclaimed for 48 hours could be dissected. Some hospitals were noticeably slow to notify next of kin, thus guaranteeing a more ready supply of bodies.

Read his full book review at
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123810812425352319.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

And you can read an excerpt of "The Making of Mr. Gray's Anatomy" at
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123808962154250021.html

Telemedicine has gained momentum in India, fueled by e-governance initiatives, and more companies offering services online are cropping up.

Our main partner in the market is India Heartbeat which connects the medical community with those seeking healthcare. Promoted by DreamWeavers InfoCom, India Heartbeat employs over 100 and is headquartered at Mumbai.




The CEO is Bharat Bhardwaj, who has helped build India's first Web 2.0 medical portal company and India's largest online medical network.

He has done a tremendous job launching and developing the brand, growing website traffic, attracting sponsor revenue, and creating statistics systems.

Even more, he has advised us and our clients on new business opportunities and formation of a collaborative business structure.

On the competitive front, another venture, Healthcare Magic, though still in beta test, has clocked over half a million interactions since its launch.

Both of these are proof enough that online medical info-care is gaining traction in India.

ASIMO, Honda's brand of robot, powered by "thought"

If you've ever questioned how powerful one's thoughts could be, take a look at this. The power of the mind is being tested with Brain-Machine Interface (BMI).

http://www.hondanews.com/categories/1074/videos/1186

5 Innovative Storytelling Examples and 1 Valuable Tool

Online communication is proving that the Internet is the storytelling playground of the immediate future, offering us boundless new creative opportunities.

Creative teams that once produced infographics are now referred to as “visual scientists.”

This is the view shared by Garrick Schmitt writing in Ad Age on Data Visualization Is Reinventing Online Storytelling.

Creative explorations like these apply raw data and information to assemble digital infographics, using highly innovative techniques to build their new storytelling platform. As we reach consumers with more easily digestible information, data visualization techniques enable us to further enhance our story to communicate more effectively and efficiently with consumers.

The article gives five mainstream examples of this trend:

1. Publishers: The New York Times, which has always done stunning infographic work, is helping to push data visualization to a mass audience with its "Visualization Lab."

2. Advertisers: Visa, as part of its new "Go" campaign, is integrating data into its advertising. The "Go" microsite features seemingly random bits of data that the user can explore to see how Visa is "helping more people go places and do things."

3. Products: Flickr, the online photo-sharing service from Yahoo, just recently released the Flickr Clock a browser -- and very nifty advertisement, actually -- that showcases the videos that users are now able to upload to the site.

4. Agencies: Stamen Design, a small San Francisco design studio has created the SFMOMA ArtScope project which is a completely interactive and visual browsing tool that makes browsing the 3,500 objects from the museum both immersive and entertaining.

5. Artists: The rock band Radiohead is working to turn data visualization into an art form with its music video, "House of Cards."

To read the full Ad Age article: http://adage.com/digitalnext/article?article_id=135313

Schmitt’s article concludes by asking two questions:

1. What data do you have that is truly valuable?
2. How can you create a meaningful experience or narrative out of it?

This is STINSON’s answer:

STINSON’s “visual and verbal CHEMists” employ a unique storytelling tool called N-of-8® that allows our clients to tap directly into the ideal group size of 8 customers – each of whom contributes to building the story. We apply a proprietary facilitation technique to the focus group setting, enabling our groups to share their most meaningful stories and identify the data that resonates with them.

N-of-8® allows us to tailor our stories directly to the consumer – we’re using the data and information they provide. The end result for us are authentic visualizations and storytelling that have lasting impact and require less interpretation – simply for the reason that we’re connecting with customers in ways that already fit into their world.

(Thanks to Peter Erickson, one of our verbal CHEMists, for reviewing the topic and writing this blog.)

Discover more about our N-of-8 tool at http://stinsonbrandinnovation.com/our_tools_n_of_8.htm

10 Pathways of Brand Innovation: How to Improve the "value proposition"

There are many roads a brand can take to innovate on value. Often these will be specific to a product market or customer environment. A marketer of ophthalmics will work with different brand value equations than a provider of diagnostic services, or a developer of patient management software.

In his book What Customers Want: Using Outcome-Driven Innovation to Create Breakthrough Products and Services, Anthony Ulwick offers his useful baseline innovation methodologies.

In a global context, brand innovation can accomplish the following (often in combination):

1. Free the customer from current constraints of the market
2. Enable the customer to do more with the product
3. Advance the context of the product
4. Advance the context of the customer
5. Through the brand, increase the customer’s proactive powers
6. Leverage brand experience into customer experience
7. Incorporate the customer into the innovation process
8. Leverage the brand platform into a customer platform
9. Unlock the customer’s creative powers
10. Create a community that supports the customer

Consider the brand you’re working on right now....which path could you take to improve the "value proposition"?

"20 years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do" ~ Mark Twain

One of our most valuable branding tools is Strategic GPS. And as powerful as it is for products, the concept is even more important for personal brands. That's why I wanted to share some thoughts on personal development strategy from a connection of mine, Jaclyn Beckerman. Jaclyn helps solopreneurs, entrepreneurs and independent contractors to increase their net worth, while enjoying a fulfilling life. She works with her clients to fill the gap between where they are now and where they want to be to create the things they truly want in their lives.


Here is her message:

Every day, in every moment, you have the chance to do that thing you've always wanted to do, to create that life you've always wanted to live. It doesn't matter what point you are at in life or what you've endured along the way. It's what I believe they really mean when they say carpe diem; seize the day. You are a naturally creative and resourceful being with the power to alter your own personal universe just because you say so.

Age, gender, race, sexuality, religion--none of these are truly deciding factors as to whether or not you can do or achieve something, they are only used as excuses and protestations for why something isn't possible for you. (Look at Barack Obama ­ how many people thought we would ever have a black president?) In reality, you can do absolutely anything. Even if it were just something you were curious about-- like what it would be like to live in another country? Or if that person you loved so long ago is still available or still thinks about you? Or if after all the time you've spent in your field, if you could really change careers NOW and actually do what you're passionate about?

Part of the wonder of life is that we GET to be curious and subsequently explore and discover! True, it may not turn out the way you hope it to when you play it out in your mind, but it least it will turn out. Regrets are completely arbitrary when you can truly say that you do and have lived life fully.

So plan that trip, re-unite with that person, start interviewing, take whatever chance it is that you're avoiding--do whatever it is that you think you can't. In telling you what you can and can't do, no ones voice will ever be as strong as your own.


You can read more on Jaclyn’s blog at http://jnbcoaching.blogspot.com/ She is offering a complimentary sample session to find out what coaching can do for you. So, please contact her at jaclyn@jnbcoaching.com or 646-719-1896.

Grants to support patient advocacy efforts: the LEAD program from CSL Behring

As those who follow this blog know, I frequently post on ways patients are taking more and more ownership of the brands they rely on. Here’s another example of how bio-pharma companies are helping connect with patient-driven initiatives.



CSL Behring, a global leader in the plasma-protein biotherapeutics industry, is calling for grant requests through its Local Empowerment for Advocacy Development (LEAD) program. The LEAD program awards funds to United States patient organizations that assist people with rare diseases in advocating for continued access to health care and life-saving plasma protein therapies.


To date, the LEAD program has awarded more than $150,000 to 12 patient organizations for their use in funding grassroots advocacy initiatives that mobilize patient populations to advance state standards of care legislation and improve access to health insurance.


To qualify for a LEAD grant, a patient organization must:


· Be a non-profit with 501(c)(3) tax status;
· Represent people who use plasma protein therapies to treat coagulation disorders, immune deficiencies, genetic emphysema or other conditions; and
· Demonstrate that financial assistance will help the group or organizations advance important local or state advocacy initiatives.


The deadline for submitting applications to the LEAD Program is April 30, 2009. Applications, specific criteria for applying, and additional information about the LEAD program are available on the CSL Behring Web site at www.cslbehring.com/leadgrants