When I walked up on stage and accepted the Inc 500 award, it hit me square in the face that this is a rare accomplishment, and even more difficult for a product company that started without the benefit of VC funding.

Dave with wife, Anne, at the awards ceremony
Over the 2 day period, I heard from some great speakers with entrepreneurial passion, many who never had accomplished making the list. It is so highly competitive and just plain hard to do.

I loved hearing some of the speeches during the conference and getting to know other entrepreneurs that attended the conference talk about how they created their niche and ultimately built a successful company from a good idea.

Because I enjoyed hearing some of what I like to call “golden nuggets of wisdom” so much, I thought in my conference wrap-up I would pass on a few to our blog readers:

Tom Peters – Author In Search of Excellence and The New World of WOW

“Only 7% of our great nation works for Fortune 500 companies. Small businesses and the entrepreneurs are the jet fuel that makes our country fly.”

“Brand is shorthand for a collection of experiences, memories of what it will be like the next time a customer deals with you. With the advent of blogs and consumer activism, Brand is impossible to fake; it is like the temperature in the room… it is there… it exists.”

Chester Elton – SVP Carrot Culture Group

“At the casino – they train the heck out of the Valet! Why do they spend 3 months on Valet training? Because he is the first and the last person to greet and interact with a visitor during their trip! Who is your company Valet?”

Paul Bennett – Chief Creative officer IDEO – speaking on — Creating a culture of optimism:

“You need to ditch B-B and B-C Need to become P-P Person to Person.”

“You don’t buy loyalty… you earn it… this is an interesting challenge, but small allows us to behave like human beings… Going off script and doing something human is a great place to start.”

“Stop obsessing about ROI and start obsessing about ROC! Return on Customer/Consumer is much more powerful than ROI!!!!”

“Happy people, unabashedly doing, happy things, makes for happy companies, which create happy businesses which enable happy cultures… IN WHICH THRIVE”

Marilyn Carlson Nelson – Chairman and CEO Carlson Companies – A family owned $40 Billion empire including TGI Fridays, Radisson Hotels…

“My leadership was tested terribly - after 9/11 the travel industry was particularly harmed. It was an extraordinary time for Carlson. “

“Put tactics around these strategic initiatives”

• Whomever you serve, serve with caring
• Whenever you dream – dream with your all
• Wherever you go, go as a leader
• And never, never give up
• Whatever you do – do it with integrity

“That builds trust, trust builds relationships and relationships build results.”

=============================================

Actually, I took about 40 pages of notes throughout the two days… So I can’t say that this will be my last summary post on the Inc 500/5000 conference, but I can say that the conference did leave a strong impression about how I can help shape the future of ScienceLogic in an even more positive way.

Friday the 13th.

Well, it was apparently worse than I thought at Infosecurity Canada. I spoke with eight people that attended and all of them gave it a unanimous thumbs down. Too bad. I guess if they were better organized it wouldn’t have sucked that badly.

Click here to subscribe to Liquidmatrix Security Digest!.

And now, the news… (better late than never)

1. Ameritrade Settling Hacking Lawsuit | Wired
2. McKinnon’s last ditch appeal to be heard by Lords | Heise Security
3. Third time’s the charm? RIAA tries end run around old case | Ars Technica
4. AG creates Cyber Crimes Unit division: Conway hopes to target Internet predators | Medical Leader News
5. Outsourcing contracts must offer personal data security | Computer Weekly
6. Windows Inspection Tool Set Helps You Troubleshoot Your System | AppScout
7. Web Application Security: Don’t Bolt It On; Build It In | IT Business Net
8. Opinion: Breach laws fail to protect anyone | InterGovWorld
9. Hacking: A story untold | Burlington Free Press

Tags: News, Daily Links, Security Blog, Information Security, Security News

It was perfect, on the other side of the tracks was the old highway (which I knew the hotel was on) running parallel to it.  I was almost back to the hotel when I noticed a Lexus lying very awkwardly in a ditch.  At first, I thought it was a runaway car that crashed.  It could only be seen from the tracks and I began to worry that someone might be in there and that no one had found them.  I was relieved to discover no one in the car, and came to the conclusion that it was probably stolen and ditched.  I decided to call 911 to let them know of its location, so the expensive car could be reclaimed.

I could not imagine that it would have taken 10 minutes for me to explain where I was, but it did.

The problem was I didn’t have an address.  All I knew was the exit number off the highway, the name of the hotel, and that I was 150 yards south of the building on a set of railroad tracks.  None of this information seemed good enough.  As I talked to her on the phone I was walking back to the hotel, and I finally gave her its address, and that seemed fit into their system.

It made me think of a situation that happened to a friend of mine in 2000.  An elderly woman made an improper left hand turn and he hit her doing close to 50 mph.  He called 911, told them he had been in an accident, the road he was on, and the building he was in front of.  The last thing he remembered before passing out was the operator telling him she needed an address. 

It wasn’t until another passerby called 911, that an ambulance finally arrived. 

The 911 system failed in both of these situations because it could not deal with what they deemed imperfect information.  The process needs to allow for partial information to be passed on in case the 911 operator cannot quickly and efficiently pin point a location.  I know our rescue services study and memorize their coverage area in order to respond as quickly as possible. 

If the 911 operator doesn’t know where the rail road tracks 150 yards south of the Holiday Inn on exit 11 off of I-85 is, I know the police, fire, or EMS workers will.

Wasn’t it the improper paperwork that led us to discover the FBI improperly obtained data?  How does instructing agents to limit requests to the most dire situations, to not file follow-up paperwork (grand jury subpoena or national security letter), and to ask for the data orally fix the problem? 

Here is the new process:

1. FBI suspects you of a crime.
2. FBI calls the phone/ISP/bank/etc. and asks for data under the emergency provision.
3. The company takes their word for it and provides the data.
4. FBI doesn’t have to obtain warrant and receives data without a single sheet of paperwork.

Anyone see how this could be abused?  Forget judicial oversight, now they don’t even have agency oversight.

Sickening…