Alex Payne has a fantastic post worth reading (which I actually found via my friend who shared it on Facebook) — “Two Unfinished Ideas About The Future”

I wanted to highlight one of the ideas in particular:

Radical Transparency

What passes for transparency today is, in practice, mere translucency. Organizations reveal just enough information to avoid appearing closed and monolithic. They may attempt to communicate in a more human way, or provide open access to some of their data, but most remain fundamentally closed. Today’s “transparency” is little more than marketing.

That which is not open is secret. Secrets are vulnerabilities waiting to be exposed. Secrets are the illusion of competitiveness. Secrets are the bondage of serendipity. Secrets are lies of omission that eat away at our social and economic relationships. Their time is over.

The successful organizations of the future, be they states, corporations, communities, or collectives, will be radically open. Radically, unlike anything we’ve seen today. True transparency isn’t about a friendly company blog, or governments being slowly pried open with freedom-of-information initiatives. It’s about structuring society around openness, because openness is the only thing that’s sustainable.

You will see, in time, organizations that put everything on the table. Organizations for which there is no concept of non-public communication from day one; no internal email, nothing that isn’t a matter of public record, by design. Organizations for which every employee’s salary is public knowledge. Organizations that compete solely on the merits of their work, not on surprise, deceit, and manipulation.

People will think these organizations are crazy. And then, over time, radical transparency will become the norm.

Perfectly said. I agree. Amen.

Tomorrow (bright and early), I’m heading down to the San Francisco Bay area for a week of work/fun. I’m looking forward to a fun week attending RE BarCamp San Francisco on Tuesday and Inman Real Estate Connect from Wednesday through Friday. I’m confident RE BarCamp is going to be a blast, and will be followed by Beer with Bloggers on Tuesday evening. Both events are free thanks to sponsors, but I’d strongly encourage you to donate whatever money you would have otherwise paid for the knowledge and networking gained at the conference to the HousingforHomeless fundraiser that Ginger Wilcox has put together. It really is amazing what a life of its own this RE BarCamp initiative has taken on over the last year. And anyone that knows me at all knows that I’m a fan of anything to help improve the lives of others. And hence the reason I think this new HousingforHomeless concept is so awesome; SOOO awesome that I’ll be spearheading the Seattle fundraiser to go along with the Seattle RE BarCamp coming up on September 8th — more details to come on that.

I’ll be in San Francisco until really early Saturday the 8th. My schedule for the week is booked for the most part already with the exception of Monday mid-day and Friday afternoon — but Tweet me or e-mail me if you’re interested in meeting up.

I just posted this video over at myKRO, but thought I’d post it here as well. Good video for those looking to learn more about microfinance.

Congrats to the team of UW Grads who are brining microfinance to Ghana with their project — Lumana Credit! There is a launch event this coming Thursday, July 23rd, in Seattle for those interested. I’ll be attending the Techflash event taking place that same evening, so won’t be able to make it — but for those in the Seattle area interested in microfinance, I’d highly recommend attending. Logistics:

BoConcept Design Studio
901 Western Avenue
Seattle, WA 98104
July 23 at 7:00 pm

Particularly since I’m a University of Washington grad (2005) and passionate about microfinance, it’s great to see this type of initiative come out of UW!

I thought this music video from OceanLab was pretty cool.

[via Rob Hahn]

My friend sent me an article about a local Seattle non profit — the Jolkona Foundation — worth checking out for those passionate about giving back to others. From their about page, their mission is To build awareness and mobilize our youth to support successful community development projects around the world. The site seems somewhat similar to Kiva since it focuses on fund raising for specific people or causes, but much broader in scope as a result of not being limited to microfinance — I’m not saying that being broader in scope is better (there are pros and cons both ways), just different. The organization was founded by Adnan Mahmud and Nadia Khawaja.

I gave it a whirl tonight and feel good that I just spent $25 to plant trees in Maili – and didn’t even have to create a new password on the site to do it (they’ve hooked into Facebook Connect for log-in and Google Checkout for payment)!

Anyway, head over to the Seattle Times to read the whole article.

WOW, this blog entry from Brett Mennella on the Seattle Times is awesome to see. Here’s a little background on him:

Brett Mennella, a senior at Bellevue High School (at right), helped start the school’s Microfinance Club, which focuses on learning about the global effect of microcredit. The club raised more than $130,000 in the last two years to support microloans, and decided to invest the money in Esperanza International, a global microfinance institution based in Bellevue founded by former Mariners catcher David Valle. This is the first of several posts he’ll be filing from the Dominican Republic, where he is doing volunteer work.

Raising $130k by the age of 17/18 is no minor accomplishment, it’s actually INSANELY impressive if you ask me. I first heard about the fund raising done at Bellevue High School a few months ago from my friend Kayla (who has worked in the Dominican Republic for Esperanza International for the past two years), but didn’t realize there was an individual behind the whole fund raising project. I guess that was a bit naive on my part since there is almost always a leader behind every great initiative. Makes me realize truly anything is possible for those who put their minds toward specific goals. It’s obvious to me Brett is both passionate and a “doer” – hence the reason he’ll never struggle to receive help in this world. If only there were more young people like him in this world.

Thank you for your great work Brett!

If not, you have now…

[via mary_rene]

A few weeks ago, I had a good discussion over drinks with Matt Dollinger at RE BarCamp Chicago regarding helping others. Matt is a trainer for @properties, so a large portion of his job involves helping agents perform better by guiding them through using technology and developing business plans (among other things). With Zillow’s stance being that education is the best form of marketing (I agree), part of my job entails helping agents and brokers better understand how to utilize the web to attract clients and build their business, and of course how to use Zillow as part of that process. Another reason for this post was my talk with my 17 year old cousin on the 4th of July. He very much has the mindset that he doesn’t need help from anyone along the way to succeed (in the music field), though at the same time, he somehow also wants someone to tell him exactly what steps to take in order to get to where he wants to end up. I gotta give him a break since he’s still only 17 — in fact, I think it’s pretty darn impressive he even knows what he wants to do at his age. Anyway, let’s face it — everyone needs help at some point or another; no successful person or company can succeed alone.

So, how do you go about asking others for help, advice, or an introduction? I’m going to answer this from my perspective since random inquiries — largely as a result of my job at Zillow and this blog — regularly show up in my inbox.

Short answer: You gotta want it. Really want it.

Longer answer: Convince me you are passionate. Convince me you care. Convince me you’ll follow through and act on the advice I give you (or at least take the time to carefully consider it). Stand out from the rest. Personalize your e-mail. Show me you did a little research. Convince me you are a “doer”. Show your voice and personality. Be motivated. BE INTERESTED.

I genuinely do try to respond to all inquiries, but some weeks are busier than others & don’t always get to everyone. And I’ll be frank — it’s so clear some requests were fired off without reading a single word on my blog that I immediately delete them from my gmail. Those people don’t stand a chance of getting a response; if they didn’t bother to spend time researching me and personalizing their message, there’s no reason for me to spend my time responding. Even if I did respond to those people, those are the people unlikely to actually follow through. Matt mentioned that he gives homework to his agents, and many of them don’t bother to spend any time on it prior to their next meeting with him. Inevitably, he’ll eventually stop spending any effort on the agents who don’t put in time and effort because there is no return on his time spent with them. I’m the same way; if there is no return on my time spent, I’m not going to do it.

Bottom line: if you genuinely want help with something, be passionate and prove you are a “doer”.

Even though this is my 3rd post in a row highlighting articles by Sloane Berrent, her “Determination for Education” post on the Kiva Fellows Blog is simply too good not to mention here; such a powerful story that sheds some light on the importantance of education in the developing world.

Please read the whole post — I know you’ll be glad you did.

I just blogged about Sloane Berrent a few minutes ago, but I came across another post on her blog with extremely strong voice — so I wanted to highlight it as well. Excerpt from “My Daydream“:

In that moment, I looked down and instead of pavement, I saw dirt beneath our tires. Dirty, brown and uneven and we bounced along the road, the passenger car jumping and jolting at every bump. I reached out from the tricycle (they without doors anyway) and ran my hand along the ground scooping a handful. In my hands the dirt wasn’t brown anymore, instead each grain seemed to stand out more than the next in bright colors. Like small gemstones shining purples, blues, yellows and reds. Instead of the dirt being crude in my hands, it was like the very definition of what I know dirt to be disappeared from my head. I looked down and as if for the first time, it was something I could define for myself. It was smooth and soft, like freshly-washed cotton. It didn’t leave remnants on my fingertips as I brushed and swirled it softly into circles in my hand. It smelled like a fresh bouquet of flowers, the kind of wafting you get when first stepping into a blooming garden. It had weight to it, not a lot, but just enough not to let it fly out of my open palm as we drove along the Filipino countryside.

Seriously — read the whole post; you’ll be glad you did.

I first came across Sloane Berrent a month or two ago on Twitter as a result of her tweeting about Kiva. Anyway, I’ve added her blog, The Causemopolitan, to my Google reader and read it when I have time. I read Sloane’s Day in the Life of a Kiva Fellow post today and came away extremely impressed with the use of voice in her writing. Here’s an excerpt:

5:30PM – Wrap up field visits and travel back to Branch. I’m emotionally exhausted from the day. The women open up to me about their lives and their lives haven’t always been great. When I see tears welling in their eyes telling me how much microfinance and the opportunity to have a business means to them, what the women in their Center mean to them, how their lives are different, it’s enough to shake you to your core. Or if I’ve found out a women didn’t use her loan the way she was supposed to, I’m exhausted from pushing for the truth.

She hooked me with the way her voice, feelings, and personality came through in the post (not just this excerpt, but the whole thing). I tend to gravitate toward reading bloggers who are passionate and intelligent. It’s apparent Sloane is both, so her blog will now get some more love amidst the noise in my reader.

I’ve said this to many people before, but if there is no voice in a blog, why the heck should I bother to read it? I can read information anywhere; a great voice can — and does — distinguish you from the rest.

Update: I also read this post and this one tonight. Both with extremely strong voice.

Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life. — Confucius

[via Greatest Quotes of all Time]

The three great essentials to achieving anything worthwhile are; first, hard work, second, stick-to-it-iveness, and third, common sense. — Thomas Edison

[via 101 Greatest Inspirational Quotes]

I 100% agree.

Do you use Twitter and are you tired of celebrity gossip? If so, here’s a funny video posted at Mashable.

[via Tony Longo]

Matt Flannery, co-founder of Kiva.org, just tweeted an awesome quote in defense of Dr Yunnus:

I like what he’s doing a lot more than what you are not doing.

This rings so true. If people spent their time taking action rather than criticizing those doing amazing things in this world, the world would be a much better place.

If this isn’t the cutest dog ever, I don’t know what is. Okay, well maybe this one rivals it, but that’s beside the point. I’m guessing if most of you had to guess what breed this dog is, you’d say a young Siberian Husky. But nope, this dog is actually a Klee Kai and is full grown. Her name is Helga and she belongs to my buddy from college and his wife who live in Washington DC.

The main point of this post was just to post the photo, but there is a business idea in this as well. While in DC for a week as part of my recent trip, I spent a fair amount of time walking the streets of DC with Helga. It was absolutely INSANE how many people stopped to look at and pet her — or maybe it was just the DC crowd, but I’m not buying it. I’ve seriously never seen anything like it before. To me, the attention she commanded brings up a business idea for some scrappy young entrepreneur out there:

• Buy 1 or 2 Klee Kai’s
• Rent them out to guys to either walk around the city with or bring to (outside) bars
• You could charge by the hour or by the night
• I all but guarantee a guy would meet 5x or 10x the girls if they brought a Klee Kai with them. That’s worth something.

I’ve been at Zillow for just about three and a half years. I haven’t tackled accounting, but I’ve been on almost every business team we have (sales, partner relations, customer service, marketing) at one point or another since starting as an intern in September of 2005. Working at a start-up that has gone from “stealth” to 8.9 million unique users a month in 3 years has been quite a journey. Here are a few lessons I’ve learned along the way:

• Pick your battles — I’m an opinionated guy, sometimes too much so. But it’s because I’m passionate about what I do — if I wasn’t, quite frankly, I’d be doing something else. But regardless of how badly you want to, you can’t fight every battle.  Know when to push, let up, escalate, concede, etc. Know that some battles are not worth fighting. This lesson could also be “Be strategic about using your political capital – you only have so much of it”
• Don’t use social media marketing if your product sucks — If you have a crappy product, no amount of social media marketing will work regardless of how many resources you throw at it. After all, social media marketing is REAL; expect your audience to puke all over you if they don’t see value in your product.
• Persistence is key — This is a biggie. Everyone is busy, myself is included. To get things done, you have to be persistent and confident what you are advocating for is the correct decision/course of action. Follow up, follow up, follow up.
• Partnerships are like friendships — they take time and effort to nurture. If both sides aren’t willing to put in equal effort, the partnership is not going to be a success in the long run.
• Choose the right technical solution from the get-go — yes, certainly this is easier said than done, but if at all possible, make sure the technical solution you go with is right from the start. For instance, migrating Zillow Blog from typepad to wordpress was a nightmare that I would have rather not had to do (we should have just picked wordpress to start with). However, realize that sometimes the wrong decision is made initially and that’s okay. My advice in those situations is to migrate over to the correct solution as quickly as physically possible once you realize that you should be using another technical solution. The longer you wait to migrate, the more time and effort you’ll likely spend doing the migration.
• LISTEN — I can not stress the importance of this one enough. There are so many people/companies who are GREAT at talking, but horrible at listening; don’t be one of them.
• Take advantage of public speaking opportunities — If you’re given opportunities for public speaking engagements, take them. It’s such valuable experience to have in the long run that will make you a more confident person. Plus, just as blogging puts you in a spotlight that often results in unexpected opportunities to arise, public speaking will lead to opportunities in a similar fashion.

I’m sure there are a few others I’m missing, but this is a start. Maybe I’ll do a Part 2 on this topic at some point in the future.

For those who don’t follow me on Twitter, I’m now back in Seattle after a 3 week stint on the road. I got to see 4 new cities – Philadelphia, Washington DC, Boston, and Chicago – and spend a week in Manhattan as well. The trip began in Philly for RE BarCamp anda classic Philly cheesecake. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to see much of the city or do any sightseeing given it was a quick in and out. I then hitched a ride with Matt Wilkins to Washington DC, where I stayed in the Adams Morgan neighborhood with a friend from college for a week. I loved the atmosphere in DC, more specifically DuPont Circle and Adams Morgan. While there, I of course did some sight seeing and had the chance to see the Capital Mall, Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, and the Holocaust Museum — though my legs were certainly beat after walking 7+ miles two straight days. Oh yea, and the cutest dog on the planet resides in DC (but she needs to stay away from my Keens from now on).

Following a week in DC, I spent another week in NYC working from Zillow’s NY office, and met up with a few locals like Rob Hahn and Doug Heddings.

Then it was off to Boston for the Boston RE BarCamp, which took place in space provided by CondoDomain’s. One of the funnest nights of the trip was certainly the Yankees – Red Sox game I attended at Fenway with Pierre, Ebounce (can you say coolest nickname ever?), and Tony. I hate the Yankees, so seeing Boston beat them in a great game was something I wouldn’t have missed for the world.

I finished up my trip in Chicago, which I must say, is one of my new favorite cities in the US. Great vibe, food, people, and sights. RE BarCamp Chicago was a great event at NAR headquarters organized by Dan Green and Todd Carpenter (props on a job well done), and I had the chance to spend some time with a number of friends from the RE.net (too many to name).

The trip was a needed extended break from Seattle. Don’t get me wrong, I love Seattle, but traveling to new cities and hanging out with awesome people is always a good time. I wish I could name all the great people I met for the first time and those existing friends who I got the chance to spend more time with — but since I know I’d forget to include a few folks, I’ll just say “thanks to everyone” who made the trip awesome.

I know the city summaries seemed to get shorter by the city. My apologies.

Ok, so this is totally random – but here are a few nicknames I’ve come across recently that I think are awesome:

“Ebounce”
“Hammer”

What’s your nickname (mine has been “Money” since freshman year of high school)? Is it worthy of joining this list? If so, please leave a comment. What’s your all time favorite nickname?