Who's the First Lead Guitar Slinger?

An interesting little side project this fall. I'm exploring the following question - who was the first single-string electric lead guitarist? In the 1930s Charlie Christian was playing single-string electric in the "big band" setting. Muryel "Zeke" Campbell was doing it with the Light Crust Doughboys, a Western Swing band in Texas, also in the 1930s. There is a slight possibility that a 3rd player, Eddie Durham from San Marcos, Texas, was the first. Christian and Durham were African Americans, Campbell a Native American. Most assume it was Charlie Christian, but there are others who give credit to Campbell.

Whoever it is, that man is the spiritual grandfather of every electric lead guitar player, from Stevie Ray Vaughn through Eric Clapton, Keith Richards...not to mention the lead players for Metallica, Korn, Pantara, jazz, country...If you have any insight into this, let me know.

Archetypes of Innovation

An interesting attempt to uncover the secrets of innovative firms is presented in a paper from George Pool and Stephen Wunker. After asking questions of executives in 90 organization and 14 countries, they developed four “archetypes.” An archetype is simply a model or exemplar, the “perfect” example.
They called their four archetypes the “marketplace of ideas” model, the “visionary leader” model, the “innovation through rigor” model, and finally the “innovation through collaboration” model. For each archetype, they name a company as an example. The marketplace model is Google, they identify several visionary leader models – Sony, Apple, Henry Ford, Harrah’s – the rigor archetype is Procter and Gamble . and the collaboration example is Vodaphone.
THE MARKETPLACE FIRM , GOOGLE, EXPECTS EMPLOYEES TO COME UP WITH GREAT IDEAS AND SHOP THEM AROUND THE FIRM. IT’S A BIT CHAOTIC. IDEAS THAT GET TRACTION ARE DEVELOPED QUICKLY INTO PROTOTYPES, THEN RELEASED FOR INTERNAL USE, THEN PUT OUT IN BETA FORM. A SIMILAR FIRM IS BEST BUY. TELEVISION COMPANIES ALSO ENGAGE IN THIS. IDEAS FOR SHOWS COME FROM ALL CORNERS, ARE RAPIDLY TRIED, AND IF THEY DON’T HIT QUICKLY, THEY ARE PUT TO SLEEP. FAILURE IS EXPECTED. SINCE IDEAS COME FROM ANYWHERE, THEY LIKE CLOSE INTERACTION WITH CLIENTS AND PARTNERS. THEY LAUNCH NEW PRODUCTS AND BUSINESSES AT A HIGHER RATE THAN FIRMS USING THE OTHER INNOVATION MODELS.
THE VISIONARY LEADER FIRM IS CENTERED ON A KEY EXECUTIVE WHO UNDERSTANDS THE FUTURE, MOTIVATES EMPLOYEES, AND KEEPS GENERATING GOOD IDEAS. STEVE JOBS IS AN EXAMPLE. HE WAS INVOLED IN CREATING ONE OF THE FIRST PERSONAL COMPUTERS, BROUGH T THE Graphical User Interface to the public, AND WAS IMPORTANT IN DEVELOPING THE IPOD. THE FIRM LAUNCHES ONLY A FEW KEY PRODUCTS. SONY’S AKIO MORITA DID SOMETHING SIMILAR WITH THE WALKMAN A GENERATION EARLIER.
BUT MOST FIRMS AREN’T LIKE GOOGLE OR APPLE, SO INSTEAD OF REPLYING ON A MARKETPLACE OF IDEAS OR A SIGNLE INDIVIDUAL, THEY TRY TO BUILD PROCESSES THAT WILL PRODUCE RESULTS SYSTEMATICALLY. SAMSUNG DOES IT THIS WAY. IT CREATES MANY NEW AND INNOVATIVE PRODUCTS, FOCUSING ON DESIGN QUALITIES. IT HAS DESIGN CENTERS IS SEVERAL MAJOR CITIES AROUND THE WORLD.
FINALLY, SOME COMPANIES COLLABORATE TO ACHIEVE INNOVATION. THESE FIRMS ARE EXTERNALLY ORIENTED, TEAMING WITH OUTSIDE FIRMS. IT IDENTIFIES NEEDS AND SEEKS SOLUTIONS FROM ITS PARTNERS. VODAPHONE WORKS WITH EXTERNAL SUPPLIERS SUCH AS ERICSSON. EVEN ITS SOFTWARE IS SOURCED FROM MANY THIRD PARTY DEVELOPERS.
THERE YOU HAVE THE FOUR ARCHETYPES. LIKE ANY TYPOLOGY, THIS SUCCEEDS IN DESCRIBING AND DOESN’T HELP TOWARD , FOR EXAPLE, BEING PRESCRIPTIVE – TELLNG FIRMS WHICH ARETYPE THEY “SHOULD ‘ FOLLOW. THAT’S YOUR JOB!

ASIA IS DESIGN CENTRAL

MANY YEARS AGO I LAUGHED WHEN I SAW A JAPANESE CAR. IT WAS A DISASTROUS PRODUCT; WHEN THE CAR DOOR OPENED, WIRES FELL OUT. AND IT JUST LOOKED, WELL, CLUNKY. NOT SO TODAY. JAPANESE CARS ARE VERY WELL DESIGNED.

AND JAPAN IS SIMPLY ONE OF SEVERAL HOTBEDS OF DESIGN. THE EPICENTER IS PROBABLY SOMEWHERE BETWEEN KOREA AND CHINA. ON THE ONE HAND, CHINESE MANUFACTURERS ARE TRYING TO MOVE BEYOND MANUFACTURING INTO MORE-SOPHISTICATED DESIGN. THEY ARE HIRING IN-HOUSE DESIGNERS FROM EUROPE SO THAT THEY CAN PROVIDE DESIGN EXPERTISE. MORE THAN A DOZEN GRADUATES FROM NOTTINGHAM TRENT UNIVERSITY’S DESIGN SCHOOL IN ENGLAND HAVE TAKEN JOBS IN CHINA, FOR INSTANCE. AT THE SAME TIME, CHINA IS DEVELOPING ITS OWN DESIGNERS.

IN KOREA, SAMSUNG IS IN GREAT SHAPE AS A DESIGNER OF CHIC, WELL-DESIGNED PRODUCTS. IN 1998, SAMSUNG HELD LESS THAN 3% OF THE GLOBAL MARKET FOR CELLPHONES AND SOLD LESS THAN 5 MILLION PHONES, MOST OF THEM IN KOREA. NO ONE, AND CERTAINLY NOT THEN-LEADER NOKIA, PREDICTED SAMSUNG WOULD RISE TO CHALLENGE MOTOROLA FOR THE NO. 2 SPOT IN THE WORLD AMONG MOBILE PHONE MAKERS BY 2006.

SAMSUNG'S REAL SURGE STARTED IN 2002. WHILE OTHER MANUFACTURERS DISMISSED THE NEW CAPABILITY OF PUTTING SMALL BUT LOW-QUALITY CAMERAS IN PHONES, SAMSUNG PUT INTO ACTION THE OLD SAYING: "A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS." SAMSUNG EXECUTIVES GRASPED THAT PEOPLE DIDN’T WANT PHONES TO REPLACE CAMERAS BUT SIMPLY WANTED AN ADDITIONAL, MORE INFORMATION-RICH MEANS OF MOBILE COMMUNICATION WITH FRIENDS AND FAMILY. IN SIX YEARS, SAMSUNG RACED FROM SELLING A MERE 21 MILLION PHONES IN 2000 TO 104 MILLION IN 2005, AND ITS GLOBAL MARKET SHARE NEARLY TRIPLED FROM 5% TO 13%! OVER THE LAST SEVEN YEARS, SAMSUNG HAS RECEIVED 19 COMMENDATIONS IN THE INDUSTRIAL DESIGN EXCELLENCE AWARDS (IDEA). IN 2005, SAMSUNG BECAME THE FIRST ASIAN COMPANY TO TOP THE IDEA AWARDS LIST.

JUST A COUPLE OF EXAMPLES. DURING THE 2008 SUMMER OLYMPICS IN BEIJING MANY OF US SAW THE BIRD’S NEST, THE STRUCTURE HOUSING TRACK AND FIELD. THIS WAS DESIGNED BY CHINESE DESIGNER AI WEIWEI. THE CHINESE DESIGN FIRM LKK WON THREE RED DOT AWARDS IN 2008 FOR A REMOTE CONTROLLER, A BLOOD PRESSURE METER, AND A TOOTHPICK HOLDER.PUTTING THIS TOGETHER, THE HOTBED OF NEW, WELL-DESIGNED, CHIC PRODUCTS IS ASIAN.

Locks Of Love

Red7 Studio, our salon/spa, has decided to support the Locks of Love Organization.   Locks of Love collects hair and makes custom hairpieces for children with total hair loss.  

For Red7 the process is simple.  We cut off the longer hair and then cut and style the remainder into a new, shorter style.  We've collected several poytails and this past Saturday cut off a man's ponytail.  About 2 feet long!