Work(s) in Progress

The face is like the penis

Do I have your attention? I know that phrase caught mine today when I read it. I almost spit coffee; and laughed for about 10 minutes.

A friend of mine loaned me Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell. I read it in one sitting. I was utterly mesmerized. I plan to read it again, pausing to digest the more important and insightful passages. I need to add it to my library. The only real question is whether to get the printed book or finally invest in the new and improved Kindle 2: Amazon's New Wireless Reading Device (Latest Generation) and get the electronic version of the book. The future is certain; a loaned copy is not enough.

“The face is like the penis!” (page 210 of the hard cover). In context, and this is very important, I used to feel badly that I did not have a poker face. Now I see this is good, for me and those around me: “Whenever we experience a basic emotion, that emotion is automatically expressed by the muscles of the face. That response may linger on the face for just a fraction of second or be detectable only if electric sensors are attached to the face. But it’s always there. Silvan Tomkins once began a lecture by bellowing, “The face is like the penis!” What he meant was the face has, to a large extent, a mind of its own. …. our involuntary expressive system is in many ways even more important: it is the way we have been equipped by evolution to signal our authentic feelings.” Since being authentic and real is important to me, I really cannot be dismayed anymore that all that feel is written on my face at all times.

My friend had shared a gem from this book with me a few months back. Relationship failure can almost entirely be predicted by evidence of contempt. It may be the single most important sign that a marriage (or any relationship really) is in trouble (or doomed). I’ve pondered this for months and cannot find a single exception in my past. Indeed, looking back, I remember a conversation I had at age 13 or 14 with a friend about love where I wondered whether it could exist for me without respect (the antithesis of contempt). It’s amazing how you can lose these simple insights over time. The four horsemen of relationship doom are: contempt, defensiveness, stonewalling and criticism. I personally have to add disgust, which was listed as an elevated form of contempt. If you’ve hit disgust, really, it’s done. C’est fini. Cut your losses.

There is an entire chapter in Blink dedicated to information overload. The scientist in me cringes at this but more data is not always good or helpful; it can confound your analysis and ruin your interpretations. Actually this is not so surprising to me. I was building my scientific career as all of the –omics became household names: genomics, proteomics, pharmacogenomics, metabolomics, etc. All of us wanted to identify biomarkers for a disease or specific therapeutic group. But more data was not always better, indeed it was almost impossible to analyze in a timely or statistically meaningful fashion. Therefore, I loved the passage in Blink on updating the Cook County ER to effectively triage for myocardial infarction using only a handful of symptoms. More information is not always more helpful. As scientists we call this confounding data, and it can truly muck things up.

Enough writing about Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. I'm going to go read it again. It's that good.

Shameless Self-Promotion

I serve as the Executive Director of the Bard Center for Entrepreneurship at the Business School of the University of Colorado Denver. Each year we host an annual Business Plan Competition. This year we are making a number of important changes to the competition, most importantly, new prize categories and opening it up to everyone in Colorado.

The Bard Center Business Plan Competition—the premier academic business plan competition in Colorado—seeks to promote the development of high-caliber business plans, recognize the most outstanding plans with cash and in-kind awards from area businesses, and encourage the creation of new businesses. Over the years the Business Plan Competition has grown from a smaller University of Colorado Denver focused event to a statewide competition that includes plans from throughout Colorado. Historically cash and in-kind awards totaling nearly $100,000 have been awarded annually. This year the competition is moving to new a level, increasing prize awards and categories of prizes. Promotion of the competition will also greatly increase. Our vision is to significantly grow the competition year by year until it is the leading business plan competition in the Rocky Mountain Region.

The six best aspiring entrepreneurs and their teams are chosen among all of the applicants to compete in a public competition. The Bard Center Business Plan Competition seeks to promote the creation and development of high caliber businesses by recognizing the most outstanding plans for early stage Colorado Companies with cash and in-kind awards from area businesses.

When: Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Where:Grand Hyatt-Downtown Denver (1750 Welton Street)

• 8:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Six Finalists Present (free & open to public!)

• 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. Luncheon Keynote

• 1:00 – 1:30 p.m. Awards Ceremony

Historical Prizes*: • 1st Place $10,000 • 2nd Place $5,000 • 3rd Place $2,500  • 4-6th Place $1,000  •Best Bioscience $5,000 • Best Nonprofit $5,000 • Best International $1,000 • In-kind over $80,000 in services and support

* New Industry Specific Awards are actively being solicited.

Eligibility: The Bard Center was founded in part to promote economic development in Denver and the Rocky Mountain region. This competition is for early stage Colorado based companies. You must not have been a Bard Center business plan winner in prior years. You must not have received Angel or Venture Capital funding to date. The Bard Center solicits the best business plans from community members as well as faculty, staff, students, alumni, at all Colleges & Universities in Colorado. You do not need to be a college graduate to compete.

Application Process: Executive summaries are due on April 16, 2009. The top 20 businesses will be asked to submit full business plans by May 7, 2009. The top 6 businesses will publicly promote their businesses at our June 10, 2009 Business Plan Competition.

Important Dates:

March 12: Meet a judge, Business Plan Competition process discussed – Chris Onan, Appian Ventures

March 19: How to write an Exec Summary – TBD

April 9: Preparing Financials for your Exec Summary – TBD

April 16: Executive Summary Due, Competition Application Due

April 23: Business Plan Structure & Scoring – TBD

May 1: Top 20 Competitors invited to submit full Business Plans

May 7: Business Plans due – (only Top 20 business plans invited to submit)

May 14: Elevator Pitch Practice - TBD

May 28: Notify Top 6 finalists

June 3: Finalist Pitch Practice, Bard Center, all day, hosted by Business Catapult

June 10: Business Plan Competition

Testimonial: "As an aspiring entrepreneur going through the MBA program at UC Denver, the Bard Center gave birth to my second career and life. Not only did the Bard Center provide the tools and knowledge to become a successful entrepreneur, it also provided a great launch pad for my business concept, MetroBoom. Participating in the 2004 Bard Center Annual Business Plan Competition changed everything for me. Winning the first place honor served as "the wind behind the sail" my business concept needed for an ideal launch. The cash prize of $10,000 combined with over $15,000 worth of donated services from in-kind sponsors were extremely valuable resources. All the press and exposure I received from winning the competition gave MetroBoom the right type of attention and credibility it needed as a start-up. The Bard Center was also a great source for networking. I have met intelligent, motivated, and caring entrepreneurs and supporters of entrepreneurship. Without the help from the people I met through the Bard Center, it would not have been possible for me to launch MetroBoom. And, the support hasn't slowed down since my business opened. The networking opportunities still provide me with great sources for business leads and knowledge. The administrators, faculty members, students, board members, and alumnae provide immense amount of support for MetroBoom. They all serve as our ambassadors. The financial, emotional, and functional support from Bard Center motivates young entrepreneurs like myself to take the leap of faith into entrepreneurship with confidence and pride."

- Jung Park, MetroBoom, 2004 Business Plan Competition Winner – still going strong in 2009: www.metroboom.com  

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Please contact me if you are interested in attending, participating in or sponsoring our competition.

Month 1 Update Goals 2009

Where did January go?

You know that it's been too long when your mom emails to find out why you have not been blogging. 

I have three major goals for 2009- improved fitness, learning Spanish and seeking out bliss.

While I have not been good at writing down my progress, I have been actively pursuing my goals.

Fitness - I joined the new LifeTime Fitness Center in my neighborhood. I have been meeting a friend there about 5 times a week. I have started swimming again. I'm getting stronger and faster. I'm not sure why I'm willing to drive about 10 miles to work out when I've had a membership to a gym about 2 block from my work that I rarely used. I think it's because I've had a friend who has consistently met me there, either mornings or evenings depending what will work for my schedule. Knowing someone is waiting or would be waiting helps me get there.  

I want to see my abs again this year. I'm close. I weighed and measured recently. I estimate I need to lose 5 or 6 measly pounds of fat to reach this goal.

Spanish- I have not made as much progress adding a new language. I did move the first 30 lessons from CD to iPod but that has not helped much.

Bliss - Ah the bliss. I think this must be my real goal for 2009. The bliss is everywhere. It's been a great month. Seeing my friend, who was in a coma for about a month after her stroke last fall, walk a few blocks to enjoy a meal at Chipotle with me. Having her talk about returning to work any day now. Going for my first motorcycle ride to the mountains with a good friend because it was sunny and 70 in January. Getting home before the snow blew in. Getting a massage; a facial; a manicure; a pedicure. Taking my very first ski lesson. Not falling. Sitting on an outdoor deck in the snow looking up on the mountains sharing conversation with a good friend over lunch. Connecting with someone who could become important. Having him cook dinner for me. Watching the people walk by on sunny days sharing conversation over coffee with good friends.

And, I finally have some closure on my home situation. My now ex-husband and I filed for divorce in July and promptly put our house on the market. Our divorce finalized in October. After 6 months, more than 54 showings, a price drop of 12.5% and no offers, my ex and I came to an agreement. Yesterday we met at the bank, transferred money to him and the title on the house to me. I cannot express how relieved I am to know that I can move my belonging out of the garage and into the house; that I can count on the house being locked when I get home; that I can leave the bed unmade from time to time; that I won't get 15 minutes warning to leave for 2 hours on Saturday mornings.