January 2, 2008 marks the 1 year since my first post on The Hot Iron titled Communication and Resolution. Well, my very first post was my test Hello World post a couple days earlier on December 30, 2006, as I set a goal to get the blog setup and running by the end of ’06. In either case, the world has had the opportunity to read The Hot Iron for a year.

And what a year it has been! Where I set out to write on topics swirling in my mind on business and technology, I added book takeaways, a focus on domain names and took several tangents, many inspired by surroundings here in the Windy City. The Hot Iron is my personal blog, though it generously took on the same template as the Web site for my Internet consultancy Dunkirk Systems. As much as I tried to keep The Hot Iron personal, being an entrepreneur makes that nearly impossible, and I intertwined experiences and anecdotes from my daily work.

So here I am 237 posts later. Where I have seen many year-end recaps of posts by many bloggers, I chose not to pour through all and rank them. Some posts that stick out include the one on German domain names, as I received comments with insights from German nationals; the post on the Web sites of my current and former Chicago Alderman as I heard from the sitting Alderman himself (yes, I verified the post was from him!) and the one questioning the rebranding of Delta Airlines, which was quoted on an airline industry blog. The lesson I learned is if you write it, it is out there, and you never know who will read it.

However I am more intrigued by the 410 comments I received. Many were by people I knew prior to writing the post, but more and more came from people I did not know at the beginning of 2007, some I have gotten to know outside of the blog and a few I have met in person. Comments mean more to me than my Feedburner subscriptions, especially when you hear from people who have no idea what the little orange icon means and visit the site on a regular basis.

Now onto 2008. Thanks for reading, and here’s to more “hot” two-way communication.

Announcements • (6) Comments • Permalink

Diversions • (4) Comments • Permalink

Whenever something happens to an elected official – usually something bad – reporters often ask them how they feel their reputation will be after whatever happened. And more often than not, the politician will say history will judge them properly on their action. This is the basis behind the book Power Plays by political analyst Dick Morris.

Power Plays takes on several politicians from the last century and a half and categorizes defining moments in their terms, then compares and contrasts their actions to others – some who faced adversity and did well, and those who did not, and in either case why. It does so in a way that is not of a single opinion, quoting many books, authors and people who knew the subjects, which are all compiled in a lengthy format at the back of the book.

A takeaway from the book is that history repeats itself. Where the times or technology may be different, people tend to make the same mistakes of others, even those who held a similar position. Another is a reaffirmation of the popular phrase “keep your friends close and enemies closer” as in politics, and not much differently than in business, you must build bridges and get buy-in from those against you in order to achieve your own personal or group’s goals and tasks.

My biggest takeaway from the book was to simply be honest. This is something I have always strived for, and is usually the toughest thing to do. Whether it is the task at hand or a business situation or something personal impacting your role in business, the honest approach is usually the best path to take, and many times less complicated than a web of lies. And isn’t it more about how we overcome what has happened than what happened itself?

On the note of honesty, the book interestingly concludes with a comparison to former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s honesty with their respective countrymen about the realities of World War II in comparison to how former President Lyndon Baines Johnson handled communication during the Vietnam War. In his introduction to this section, he makes somewhat of a prediction about the war on terror in Afghanistan – the book was written in 2002 – and states that current President George Bush should follow the FDR/Churchill path of communication rather than the Johnson path in whatever happens in our fighting in the Middle East. It is interesting to read this part in 2007, and I will leave any political opinion to you when you read the book.

Power Plays is an enjoyable text on leadership and history and I highly recommend it. I was pleased I liked the book in the end. I bought the book at a reading Morris did shortly after it came out, along with another book he wrote, Vote.com, which I thought was horrible. Morris is listed as being “behind” the site along with his wife, and the book simply lacked any real substance in my opinion. Maybe that’s why Power Plays sat on my bookshelf for a long time? It was, however, worth the wait.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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Book Take-Aways • (0) Comments • Permalink

At the beginning of this year I made a pledge – a resolution if you will – to read 12 books. I did this for several reasons – I have never been much of a reader, I had books on my bookshelf I bought but never read, seeing my wife reading books all the time... you get the picture. As 2007 closes, I am pleased to say I met my goal.

I decided to tie these books into my newly-launched blog, and would write something on each one as I read it. Some of the books had been in print for many years, so writing a review would be no good, plus there are book reviews elsewhere. Instead I decided to personalize my responses by writing what I took away from each book. I would conclude my takeaways with whether or not I recommend the book for others to read, as I felt there would be a chance I didn’t like the book.

As I read each book, what would I do with them? My bookshelf was runneth over with books, documentation and of course sports memorabilia. As I was now a book reader, more shelf space was required. So rather than have these books become like trophies on the mantelpiece, I decided to give them away. Once I finished a book and wrote my takeaways, it was promptly sent off to someone who I felt it appropriate to them. Sometimes this was via my wife who became interested in my newfound passion, but they have all left my office and are in the hands of others.

It would not be appropriate to sum up a year’s effort without stats. Of the 12 books I read, only 5 were in my possession at the beginning of the year. One book was given to me by the author, a friend, and another was given to me by the city of Chicago (along with several thousand others I presume). Two books I heard about from articles I read, and one was mentioned in several of the other books I read. One book I read via email messages from the DailyLit service, and 1 was book was authored by someone with the same name as me.

You can read all of the book takeaways and supporting posts under the “Book Take-Aways” category, always available on the sidebar of The Hot Iron. Now onto writing my 12th takeaway post, then starting my first book for 2008!

Book Take-Aways • Diversions • (2) Comments • Permalink

Guess who owns vista.com and schwagwhore.com? Hint – they are owned by separate entities.

One may think vista.com is owned by Microsoft in conjunction with their much-maligned operating system Windows Vista. However that is not the case – it is owned by online printer VistaPrint who purchased the domain name from Innuity, Inc. for $1.25 million. As of this writing the main domain name for VistaPrint is vistaprint.com, and vista.com redirects to it. This was a wise move by VistaPrint, as they can still leverage the Vista portion of their brand if they evolve from printed products.

I had looked up schwagwhore.com on a whim, shortly after getting my first shipment from StartupSchwag.com. Schwag is a term commonly applied to the items you will get at a trade show emblazoned with the logos – and Web sites – of the company handing them out. As I tend to collect a lot of schwag at conferences, I have been called a “schwag whore” before. Much to my surprise the name is registered to Turner Broadcasting. According to Domain Tools schwagwhore.com was registered earlier this year. It currently does not resolve to anything. Not sure why they have this one; perhaps a story they covered included the term in it?

Just a couple of stories from the wonderful world of domaining!

Domain Names • (1) Comments • Permalink