Lead, Follow AND Get Out of the Way!

The phrase "Lead, follow, or get out of the way" has often, and probably incorrectly, been attributed to Thomas Paine.

As a leadership philosophy, the admonishment is not quite right.  It works better with "and" instead of "or." A great leader leads, follows and gets out of the way.


A great leader leads by clearly articulating the mission and building the right team. A leader follows the conversation about the mission and considers how input from the team should refine the mission. Finally, a great leader gets out of the way and lets the team accomplish their mission.

Are you leading or getting in the way?


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The Thrill of Ownership

Desktop 3D Printers from Stratasys

For me, it started with Stratasys, the 3D printer company. I had been researching additive manufacturing tools for building a new product and had even visited the Stratasys headquarters to see the machines in operation. Ultimately, we selected an Objet printer for the project and our new product was not successful.

Statasys remained intriguing however.  This was a mostly unknown technology that seemed like it could change the world.  So after carefully research and consideration, I took some of our savings out of some slow growing mutual funds and purchased a portion of the company.

Since that purchase, the company has grown, added new printers, introduced new modeling materials and made several acquisitions.  As an owner, it has been thrilling to watch.

There is an important psychological difference between buying stock and purchasing part of a company, even if the actual financial transaction is exactly the same. Often, buying stocks is similar to a poker game; you try to guess what the other stock buyers are thinking and whether investor sentiment will push the stock price up. In purchasing a company, the focus is on the intrinsic value of the company, the suitability of the products for the marketplace and the skill the management team has in operating the company.

As an owner, I have a responsibility to understand the marketplace and know the strengths and weaknesses of our products compared to those of our competitors. I need to pay attention to revenues and margins.  I need to watch cash flows just like any other business owner. For me, this is both exciting and good practice for the assessments that I have to make regularly for my employer.

Since that initial investment, I have purchased a few other companies. Ownership is a lot more challenging and rewarding than following the daily fluctuations in an index fund. Instead of watching the game, you are in the game.


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Opportunity in Personalized Manufacturing

Yesterday's disclosure of stellar performance by Shutterfly proves something I have known all along: there is tremendous opportunity in personalized manufacturing. The online photo imaging company's fourth quarter profit jumped 50%, topping their own estimates and exceeding analyst expectations.

The company no longer separates prints from other personalized photo items in their financial statements, but it is a safe bet that their 35% increase in full year revenue did not come from making more 4x6 prints. The growth came from stationery, greeting cards, photo books and photo based merchandise.

There are still people in the photo industry complaining about the changes that have taken place over the last decade. In the meantime, Shutterfly continues to demonstrate what can be accomplished through consistent new product development, continuous improvement to web user interfaces and aggressive marketing.

How does your growth compare to Shutterfly?

What are you planning to do about it?

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Textures and Shapes

Textures and Shapes

LOFT cards from Black River Imaging are thick and luxurious!

I have just returned from working back-to-back photography trade shows for Black River Imaging: Imaging USA in Atlanta and the Sports and School Photography Annual Conference in Las Vegas. In my visits with professional photographers, they want textures and shapes!

Texture as in the 51 point thick LOFT cards printed with a luxurious eggshell finish that invokes memories of the letterpress era.

Shape as in the elegant die cuts around the edges of the specialty shaped cards.

Texture as in the snakeskin and ostrich leather choices available for the Mosaic albums.

What are your favorite trends in photographic products?

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Share Your Point of View

The GoPro Photo of the Day for January 11, 2013 uploaded by Manuel Gindl

If imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, GoPro must feel extremely loved. Ten years ago, GoPro introduced a camera which could strap to the wrist of a surfer to capture the wave from the surfers point of view. When people using the camera discovered they could use the device to share experiences on YouTube, the company caught a wave of it's own. GoPro has sold over 3 million cameras in the last three years.

This year at CES, almost every major camera company and several new companies were promoting their own version of a wearable point-of-view device. These are designed to be durable which was best explained by JVC as "quad-proof," the four proofs being waterproof, shockproof, dustproof and freezeproof.  The accessories available for the GoPro Hero3 camera include mounting brackets for your helmet, chest, handlebars, roll bar or surfboard.

GoPro encourages the use of their camera through their website which includes the featured video of the day, and the photo of the day. GoPro users are extremely excited about the brand and often mention it in the videos they upload. A quick search for GoPro on YouTube just found 474,000 videos.

What's your point of view? Are you planning an experience that you could share with the world?


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Mirrorless and Wireless

The Samsung Galaxy Camera runs the Andriod OS

Last week, over 150,000 people gathered in Las Vegas for the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show, the world's largest annual innovation event. For those interested in cameras and imaging, the most important trends involve the shift to mirrorless cameras and the introduction of dozens of Wi-Fi enabled enabled cameras.

Camera manufacturers are hoping that both of these can slow down the shift to capturing images on smartphones instead of dedicated cameras. The popularity of smartphone photography resulted in a 19% decrease in the volume of compact camera sales in the United States last year. This is not surprising considering that the iPhone 4 and 4S are the number one and number two devices used for uploading images to Flickr.

However, iPhone users tend to be photocentric and there is a strong correlation between iPhone ownership and SLR camera ownership. Although the resolution of the iPhone is sufficient for most uses, it's fun to have a camera that allows more creative control in certain situations. While a digital SLR camera has been the typical choice for these situations, mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras are a nice upgrade.

Digital SLRs are generally an adaption from 35mm cameras. Originally, the size of the film dictated the size of camera body and the size of mirror which deflected the image to the viewfinder. The mirror was required because the film was a passive sensor which could only display an image after it was exposed in the camera and developed afterwards. Camera makers based their digital cameras on film cameras because they could reuse their camera designs. Photographers bought them because they looked and felt like high quality devices and could work with lenses they already owned.

Mirrorless cameras with interchangable lenses offer the advantages of of SLRs without the bulk or the weight. By using the digital sensor for both image capture and the viewfinder, there is no need for a mirror. By optimizing the optical path for the actual sensor size rather than 35mm film, more light can be captured with smaller lenses and the camera body is smaller. Photographers are figuring this out pushing the sales of mirrorless cameras up 141% in 2012.

Part of the fun in photography is sharing. Compared to smartphones, sharing with dedicated cameras has been cumbersome. After taking a picture, you had to move the image from your camera to your computer and post it to Facebook or Flickr through your browser. The new Wi-Fi enabled cameras imply that you can take your picture and immediately upload it to your favorite social media site.

In reality, there is a great deal of difference between the capabilities of the different Wi-Fi enabled cameras. The Samsung Galaxy Camera and the Nikon Coolpix S800C run the Android OS which means they can upload images using the same apps that are available on the Android smartphones. The Canon EOS 6D transfers images to preferred websites through the Canon Image Gateway. Others require transfer to your smartphone or tablet before you can share your images with your friends.

I enjoy sharing snapshots directly to Facebook from my iPhone. But when I use my "real" camera, part of the enjoyment is the selection and editing process on a big monitor after I get home. Then I share my best images on Facebook and on this blog.  So I'm not in a hurry to own a Wi-Fi enabled camera.

Will you be upgrading your camera soon?


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Camera sales data from GfK reported in the November/December issue of International Contact.

The Best Camera

The Milwaukee Museum of Art

"The best camera is the one that's with you." - Chase Jarvis.



In some ways, I understand that the best camera is the one that's with you, but it's not true for me.  I have an iPhone in my pocket everyday and walk past dozens of photo opportunities without seeing them. I know the camera in the phone can capture nice images, but the scene would have to reach out and hit me before I would notice.



For me, the best camera is one that reminds me that I love photography. When I pick up a "real" camera, I become aware of the beauty and texture of the world around me.  I see things that I would not take time to see otherwise.

A "real" camera does not have to be an expensive digital SLR. It can even be an iPhone. As long as it initiates the mental transition into "photographer."

Lake Michigan from the Milwaukee Museum of Art

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