The 2009 American Theater Wing Tony Awards were issued Sunday, June 7. Neil Patrick Harris was a great host, and his closing number was legen…. (wait for it)….dary! Below are my Tweets while viewing the event (in reverse chronological order, of course):

• Love Neil Patrick Harris! Saw him on Broadway in “Assassins” and “Cabaret” and hear he was great in the LA prod of “Rent”- kudos! Sunday, 07 June 2009, 11:05 pm
• No surprise, Billy Elliot” takes Best Musical Sunday, 07 June 2009, 11:00 pm
• With five leads from “Jersey Boys”, I guess you can call this number “The Big Valli’s” Sunday, 07 June 2009, 10:54 pm
• “The BIllys” win best actor! Add their ages together and they’re only 33! Sunday, 07 June 2009, 10:51 pm
• For me, Alice Ripley truly did give the best performance this year in “Next to Normal” Sunday, 07 June 2009, 10:47 pm
• YES! Hair! Well deserved! Sunday, 07 June 2009, 10:39 pm
• Well, no hat or boa now — red hair, though. Sunday, 07 June 2009, 10:34 pm
• At “Hair” I sang and danced onstage at the finale with the the actress in the hat and red boa (Megan Reinking) Sunday, 07 June 2009, 10:33 pm
• I am in a Tony pool where the tiebreaker is the length of Jerry Herman’s speech Sunday, 07 June 2009, 10:31 pm
• RT KarenWaldkirch – Based on the commercials, the Tony TV audience is chronically ill. Sunday, 07 June 2009, 10:22 pm
• Best Play winner “God of Carnage” has gotten the best reviews for a play in 20 years. Sunday, 07 June 2009, 10:20 pm
• “Norman Conquests” three separate full plays — some on different nights, and at other times back-to-back-to-back Sunday, 07 June 2009, 10:18 pm
• Lest you forget for a moment that the Tony awards are staged to make money for producers, I give you Legally Blonde Sunday, 07 June 2009, 10:16 pm
• Gina Gershon was hilarious as the French flight attendant in “Boeing, Boeing” earlier in the season on Broadway Sunday, 07 June 2009, 10:15 pm
• @CassieTheGreat Love 80’s music, you’ll love Rock of Ages, Cassie. A fun night (and cool drinks, too!) Sunday, 07 June 2009, 10:10 pm
• Now you see why they need 3 Billy’s to cover the 8 performances a week in “Billy Elliot” Sunday, 07 June 2009, 10:09 pm
• Frank Langella was good in “A Man For All Seasons”, suffered from “early season run” syndrome and “Frost/Nixon” comparison Sunday, 07 June 2009, 10:00 pm
• @15steps Raul Esparza was great in “Speed the Plow” particularly because it was a non-singing role. A good actor! Sunday, 07 June 2009, 9:53 pm
• Bebe Nuewirth is going to play ‘Morticia Addams’ in next season’s Broadway Musical version of “The Addams Family” Sunday, 07 June 2009, 9:49 pm
• Geoffrey Rush’s “Exit the King” is currently scheduled to close June 14 — so get here quick if you want to see him in it! Sunday, 07 June 2009, 9:48 pm
• Geoofrey Rush got universal accliam for “Exit the King” and he wins! Sunday, 07 June 2009, 9:45 pm
• Ha! NPH disses Jeremy Piven and his “too much sushi” excuse for leaving “Speed the Plow” Sunday, 07 June 2009, 9:45 pm
• I still get teary eyed at this song “I am” from ‘Next to Normal” Sunday, 07 June 2009, 9:39 pm
• RT @ericaeeks *stabs the audio engineers* I agree! Sunday, 07 June 2009, 9:37 pm
• Very simply, I loved “Next to Normal” I hope Alice Shipley wins later. Sunday, 07 June 2009, 9:36 pm
• Jennifer Damiano is great in “Next to Normal”, but Karen Olivio has gotten dynamite reviews Sunday, 07 June 2009, 9:33 pm
• Saw Guys & Dolls on Thursday – it’s best the ensemble was the cast they showcased on the Tonys Sunday, 07 June 2009, 9:29 pm

Yesterday, the BEAM employee resource group of McGraw-Hill presented George C. Fraser, author, networking guru and founder of FraserNet.com on the occasion of the release of his new book, “Click: Ten Truths for Building Extraordinary Relationships”. Below are my tweets broadcast from the event:

• LiveTweeting George C. Fraser author of ‘Click’: “Very good will get you fired. Today, you’ve go to be AMAZING.” Wednesday, 27 May 2009, 12:40 pm
• George C. Fraser: It’s not just connecting – it’s all about following up Wednesday, 27 May 2009, 12:42 pm
• George C. Fraser: Ultimate goal of all networking is to ‘click’. To make 1 + 1 equal 11 not 2. Wednesday, 27 May 2009, 12:44 pm
• George C. Fraser: chemistry, fit and time all needed to create a win/win/win result. Wednesday, 27 May 2009, 12:47 pm
• George C. Fraser: What are you not doing because you’re scared? Amazing people transcend their normal tasks and become leaders. Wednesday, 27 May 2009, 12:51 pm
• George C. Fraser: You need three networks: personal (home); operational (community) and strategic. Wednesday, 27 May 2009, 12:55 pm
• George C. Fraser: Your most important tool for sucess is not your computer it’s your ability to network. It’s all about relationships. Wednesday, 27 May 2009, 12:57 pm
• George C. Fraser: education is just “table stakes” it gets you into the game. Next: What can you do? Then: Ability to build relationships. Wednesday, 27 May 2009, 1:00 pm
• George C. Fraser: Superior interpersonal skills trumps all other skills. Be careful who your friends are – your top 5 define you. Wednesday, 27 May 2009, 1:03 pm
• George C. Fraser: Most business decisions are made at an emotional level then are rationalized by facts. Wednesday, 27 May 2009, 1:05 pm
• George C. Fraser: Be nice to people. They will forget what you did; forget what you said; but they will not forget how you made them feel. Wednesday, 27 May 2009, 1:07 pm
• George C. Fraser: The words you soeak today are waiting for you tomorrow. Words matter. Wednesday, 27 May 2009, 1:08 pm
• George C. Fraser: Three most important keys: Initiative; communication skills; and interpersonal skills. People lead people not companies Wednesday, 27 May 2009, 1:12 pm
• George C. Fraser: On average, successful people spend 54% of their time cultivating relationships. Wednesday, 27 May 2009, 1:14 pm
• George C. Fraser: Everyone gets invited to the table to eat. If all you do is eat you won’t be invited back. Bring something to the table! Wednesday, 27 May 2009, 1:18 pm
• George C. Fraser: You must eliminate toxic people and bloodsuckers from your life! Many are your own family. It’s easy to say – hard to do. Wednesday, 27 May 2009, 1:21 pm
• George C. Fraser: Successful people understand the importance of everyone they meet. The key to building relationships is giving. Wednesday, 27 May 2009, 1:23 pm
• George C. Fraser: End Quote:

“Give first; share always; and rewards will come later. It’s important to think, feel and believe that you are awesome.”

Last night, BusinessWeek hosted an interview with management guru Jim Collins by BusinessWeek Executive Editor John A. Byrne on the eve of the release of Collins’ newest book, “How the Mighty Fall” which reviews companies that have fallen, and those who never gave up.

His approach seems to meld Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’ ‘Five Stages of Death’ with  medical staging terminology denoting the recoverability from serious diseases like cancer, to come up with five stages of a company’s decline. Below are the tweets I published from the site during the interview:

• Live tweeting from the BusinessWeek Jim Collins event in NYC. Jim’s new book ‘How the Mighty Fall’Jim Collins: You can fall a very long way… a very long way… and recover.

• 5 stages of decling companies:

1. Hubris borne of success
2. Undisciplined pursuit of more
3. Denial of risk and peril
4. Grasping for salvation
5. Capitulation to irrelevance or death

• Note: you can recover from all but #5
• Jim Collins: Danger: Inflicting arrogant neglect on your core business in pursuit of the next thing. Ex: Circuit City letting Best Buy eclipse them
• Jim Collins: Focusing on growth as the goal leads to a fall. Reason: lack of right people on board to handle it
• Jim Collins: a wrong leader vested with power can bring a company down.
• Jim Collins: One indicator of pending failure: frequent reorganizations (false sense you’re doing something)
• Jim Collins: hoping for the one savior or acquisition to save the company is a sign of grasping for salvation
• Jim Collins: Carly Fiorina at HP. HP got what it wanted a charismatic dynamic leader. But then tried to recover with the one big move Compaq
• Jim Collins: you can never recover from Stage 5 capitulation to irrelevance or death
• Jim Collins: determine “water line risk”. Risks below the water line sink the ship if they blow up
• Jim Collins: End quote:

“Whether you prevail or fail, endure or die, depends more on what you do to yourself than what the world does to you”

Saw lots of shows off and on #Broadway in last 6 mos. With Tony Award noms pending I took the time to post my TwitReviews® on each. Below are the tweets, in reverse chronological order

• TwitReview: ‘Next to Normal‘ Bi-polar Musical? It works! Alice Ripley & show Tony nom bound. Great cast, no dead weight (heh)
• TwitReview: ‘Hair‘ Must see! Best musical on Broadway Unknown stars shine. Had front row (not for the modest!) Danced onstage during finale
• TwitReview: ‘Rock of Ages‘ Forget plot, enjoy the performances. Love 80’s tunes, love this show. Jarvis shines, Maroulis not bad.
• TwitReview: ‘Blithe Spirit‘ Lansbury iconic, up close stage makeup scary. Everett OK. Ebersole good. Not full price worthy TKTS OK
• TwitReview: ‘All My Sons‘ Best drama this year. Powerful performances Lithgow amazing, Katie Holmes surprisingly good
• TwitReview: ‘Pal Joey‘ OK in a Roundabout sort of way. ‘Joey’ not strong enough. Should’ve been called “Gal Pals of Joey”
• TwitReview: ‘Equus‘ Powerful, dated production. Radcliffe fine in all aspects. Griffiths weary. Unsung star: Anna Camp

NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker

I attended this morning’s keynote interview with NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker at the McGraw-Hill Media Summit NYC. Zucker was interviewed by BusinessWeek magazine’s Executive Editor Ellen Pollock. I “live-tweeted” the interview and below is a compilation of those messages in reverse chronological order.

Two points before the tweets:
1) Full disclosure: I work for BusinessWeek on the digital side and therefore McGraw-Hill;
2) You can find many more tweets regarding the M-H Media Summit NYC by searching Twitter on this hash tag: #MS09

10:00am: Zucker: future with GE; NBCU has benefited greatly as part of GE esp. acquisitions. I hope we’re there for a long time-think we will.
9: 58am: Zucker: we believe in ubiquitous distribution. We want our content available everywhere. But don’t steal and econ model not yet there.
9:55am: Zucker: Hulu well ahead of plan financially and will become a significant contributor to NBCU.
9:50am: Zucker: This is show business. It was easier to be in the show when the business was better
9:49am: Zucker: Leno move is part of that change in thinking. It keeps Leno and Conan. We don’t expect Jay to matched scripted show rating.
9:48 am: Zucker: We need to be honest about the change happening in broadcasting. NBC had it rough but that allowed us to change our thinking.
9:47am: Zucker: NBC news is more dominant than it has ever been. The viewer votes every day.
9:45am: Zucker: On MSNBC viewership remains incredibly strong with key target demos outperforming CNN. Looking for one more key program.
9:42am: Zucker: In a difficult economy the key is to out-perform the market. NBCU sells advertising across networks by target audience.
9:40am: Zucker: We are first and foremost a cable network company (NBC Universal). USA is one of top 5 networks.
9:35am: Zucker: Cramer was correct on two areas: Fed had to drop rates or more co’s would die; convert to cash if you’ll need it w/in 5 years
9:32am: Jeff Zucker: Jon Stewart incredibly unfair to CNBC and to business media in general. Everyone wants a scapegoat but blaming CNBC is absurd.
9:25am: Fox: no one has a crystal ball but insightful business information is vital.
9:23am: Keith Fox BW pres opening the meeting
9:19am: Waiting for the. Jeff Zucker keynote interview to start.

As a child I was deathly afraid of airplanes. I mean, screaming, yanking, get-me-out-of-here afraid to even get on one. Then I moved to a part of New York City right in the landing pattern of JFK airport, and after seeing plane after plane — 1,000 feet up and at times once every thirty seconds, I decided to get over my fear by learning all I could about them.

That led to my morbid hobby — plane crashes. What was it that caused an airliner to fall out of the sky? I’ve read books, researched cases and found Web sites of interest. Now, I love to fly (which helped me when I was at AOL and taking two flights a week from NY to VA).

The above (poorly recorded, I know) video is of a site that tracks air traffic in real-time (Google “Passur” or “Airport Monitor 2.0″). I found US Air flight 1549 and recorded it’s track above — all 4 minutes of its flight before it crash-landed in the Hudson River today at 3:30 PM ET — a mere six blocks west of the building where I work.

And in case you were wondering, I’d go on a flight today if I could, confident that it is indeed (and statistically proven to be) the safest way to travel. After all, what are the odds of this happening again so quickly?

Great post. One of the problems I’ve observed while discussing this topic with industry types is that companies often have several people, some in high leadership positions, who all believe that they “know” social media simply because they have a Web page, or a Facebook account or have participated in an online discussion here or there . That’s like saying you know how to design a new car simply because you’ve driven one.

Companies looking to connect with their customers where they increasingly live — online — not only need a social media department, they need to hire social media professionals to run them.

Originally posted as a comment by roncasalotti on Jacob Morgan on Social Media, Technology, Marketing, and Life using Disqus.

Because, you know, it does. Some say that every vote does NOT count, and that is technically true.

After all, a red state voter casting a ballot in a heavily blue state does not affect who gets that state’s electoral votes. Vote by absentee ballot? Hell, they don’t even get read unless the race is very close. And, of course there’s those rejected ballots.

So, why vote? To send a message to the winner. An electoral landslide with a close popular vote tells the winner that they do not necessarily have a mandate to govern without concern given to the minority voters. Oh, and I am not referring to this election nor am I publicly coming out for either Obama or McCain. I just want you to vote and while voting realize the privelege it is to be able to do so.

Here’s the latest topic cloud of what business oriented people are sharing on Business Exchange:

Catching up after falling behind (wish I had a $1 for every blogger that started an entry with words to that effect), the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (what an intellectually sounding name for something that produces mostly dreck), held its 60th Primetime Emmy Awards a couple of weeks ago. I just want to comment on two things.

First, under the category of “the right things get done for the wrong reasons,” ‘Mad Men’ became the first basic cable show to win Best Drama — and well deserved, indeed. Of course, the writer’s strike led to less network product, which led to less viewership, less episodes, less to enter in the Emmy race. But, the winner was ultimately, the best of the bunch. As was ‘30 Rock’ for Best Comedy, and the acting of Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin for comedy; Brian Cranston and Glenn Close for drama. All deserving winners.

Second, why all the fuss about winning an Emmy? Doesn’t everybody have one?

Emmy and Me