In the past three months I had delivered around 35 speeches and presentations.  During about 25 of them I have asked the audience the question that is the title of this column (why I will explain later).

.Whether it is a confidential gathering of 10-15 CEOs or a hotel ballroom of 400-500 people, when I ask this question, I have never had anyone raise their hand.  That is worth repeating.  25 times I have asked audiences to “Raise your hand if you love your cable company” and not a single person has raised their hand!

Not only that, but most of the …

Recently I have been thinking about the cultural process whereby something that initially is perceived as dangerous to society ultimately becomes a part of the cultural mainstream. New is often perceived as threatening.  Its newness is not understood, so if it can’t be understood and fit into the status quo then it must be bad. 

This thinking was triggered several weeks ago when reading an editorial in The Economist about the need for an age-rating for video games similar to the age ratings of the motion picture industry.  The thrust of the article was that something new is not necessarily bad …

In a post two days ago I suggested that the Wii Video Game console from Nintendo was the clear winner in the new console competition with Sony’s PlayStation 3.  I based this on the fact that the Wii was an innovative product that both opened up the gaming space to new participants and was highly desired by experienced gamers.

Since that post I have come across sales numbers that emphatically point to the fact that consumers have embraced the new, innovative vision of the Wii.  The PlayStation debuted on November 17 and the Wii on November 19 and the November …

In the last ten years, video gaming has gone from being a peripheral social phenomenon for young and teenage boys to a central factor in today’s media and entertainment.  Movies based on video games have been produced. TV executives talk about bringing the interactive gaming experience to television programming.  Advertisers create games for brand positioning of their product. Advertising in video games is growing at a faster rate that almost any other medium today. The sales revenue of the video game industry is greater than theatrical movies.  Virtual worlds, one of the biggest things in today’s Internet world can be …