I’m off to the Team Up Foundation‘s “Have a Heart” dinner tomorrow night.

There are several amazing auction items, but these two are one-of-a-kind:

Bid generously!

Looks like we were on to something. An article by ESPN “Billy Hunter sends players memo on BRI” notes Hunter told the players “they will receive a 51.2 percent share of Basketball Related Income in the 2011-12 season.”

Stern and the owners gave other concessions as well. It was the right move as we previously argued: “If I was David Stern“

My latest over at RR:

It’s the perfect time to offer an olive branch.

It’s time to be a leader.

Why make a deal now? Both sides are taking a big hit. It’s a stalemate and NO one (besides the lawyers) is winning: owners, players, agents, workers, fans, restaurants, charities, etc.

The losses are building. The economy is fragile. Casual fans are moving on. Expectations for a season are low. It’s the perfect time for an “upside surprise” – to borrow a term from my industry.

Large amounts of money and plenty of egos at the table is never a good mix. It got out of control. Pride took over from common sense. Mr. Stern, you didn’t give them an out. You backed them into a corner – pro athletes who have fighting-through-adversity in their DNA. That’s what makes them special. That’s why they are in the NBA. They’ve never backed down from a good competition.

It’s time to lead. Give them an out. Give them more than half. Use 51% as the midpoint of a band. Take the high road. Make Billy and Derek look good (or perhaps less bad).

Following on my recent post highlighting the success of New Brunswick based technology companies, is a great post by “The Think City” Blog:
“Mega-Returns On Social Investments – Propel, Radian6, And Micro-Loans”

This group didn’t believe the traditional tech incubator model, which provides a combination of financing, office space and mentorship, would work in Saint John. At the time, venture capital investments in Atlantic Canada were almost non-existent and the big venture cap firms in Toronto and New York, rarely looked east of Montreal for ideas. Propel‘s founders knew financing would come through the development of strong relationships with would-be angel investors in Saint John and the Maritimes.

They’re doing something special there. And improving their communities in the process:

They immediately tapped into Saint John’s collaborative business community, pairing senior business executives with entrepreneurs, a one-to-one match-up. This idea would be replicated in other areas of development in Saint John over the next decade, including poverty reduction and immigration.

It all comes down to this:

The people behind these enterprises are all linked by one simple belief: that the power of one person, connected to a network, can fuel a transformation

Well done.

Why are National TV networks and newspapers so keen on reporting on ~70 protesters for “Occupy Bay Street”, but unwilling to provide coverage of “Occupy New Brunswick” where momentum is building at a much more rapid pace?!

What is “Occupy New Brunswick?” Its comprised of a group of individuals who are focused on creating jobs and giving back to the community.

Who’s leading Occupy New Brunswick? The Top 1%, although it doesn’t stop there.
New Brunswickers – entrepreneurs, angel investors and community supporters – like Gerry Pond, Marcel LeBrun, Chris Newton, Gururaj Deshpande etc…

Occupy Toronto and its ~70 protesters that marched down and occupied Bay Street get all the news…

… while a group of entrepreneurs who hired hundreds of employees (for many many days) and parlayed relatively small investments into over $650 million on value (via two acquisitions by industry heavyweights) … and are giving back to the community get little press…

If you want to improve (not simply “CHANGE!”) the economy – such that those that are willing to work hard and train for expanding fields will find employment – then it strikes me as important to identify and promote the most successful case studies and learn what was done right. The media hasn’t completely acknowledged that screaming “we want change” without any clear plan doesn’t do much for the economy or jobs – although it does lead to 3,370 articles being generated. Negatively wins. Success isn’t cool anymore.

It is true that Radian6 and Q1 Labs did get solid press when Salesforce.com (CRM-NYSE) and IBM (IBM-NYSE) respectively announced their intent to acquire them. However, little follow up was done to highlight what those companies meant to: employment growth, government tax receipts, wealth, spending, future investment, and contribution to the community and the local university in New Brunswick. It strikes me as the type of case studies that absolutely need to be promoted given the current difficult economic backdrop. Covering protests are fine… however, highlighting keys to job growth seems like a priority to me.

This is the era when Jersey Shore leads TV ratings. The media would rather showcase drama than promote well thought out ideas. Do you really want to make a positive impact? Then put together a series highlighting these stories – all of which “occupied” New Brunswick in a span of only seven months:

• Salesforce.com acquires Radian6. New Brunswick Innovation Foundation makes 28x its original investment. LINK
• IBM acquires Q1 Labs. “If you look at the skills that they have in Fredericton, they’re world-class,” said Robert LeBlanc, senior vice president of IBM Middleware Software.” LINK
• UNB to get centre for innovation. UNB alumni and serial entrepreneur Gururaj Deshpande, along with former NBTel CEO and Radian6/Q1 investor, Gerry Pond, made a multimillion-dollar donation to UNB. The “1%” are giving huge sums of money to create a much needed Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Giving back, creating jobs. The 1%. Little press. LINK
• UNB and Cisco Canada team up for innovative technology partnerships. Cisco provides $2 million endowment to establish a chair in “advanced learning technology”. Giving back. Creating future jobs. LINK
• New Brunswick Information Technology Council unveils “Blueprint for Tech Rejuvenation”. They get it “The ICT sector is the engine for growth as it has been growing at double the rate of the Canadian economy as a whole since 2007″ LINK
• “N.B. company looks to commercialize drug” LINK
• Bathurst based Sentinel Systems Ltd. signs a deal that distributes its disaster planning technology to 900 municipalities in Quebec. LINK

I’d like to challenge the CTVs, the CBCs, the Globes and the National Posts of this great country to be a part of the solution and lead with stories showing what can be done to get the economy going again. Repeating the same stories about complaints about the “system” and never highlighting solutions to the problem doesn’t appear productive, although likely keeps ratings high.

Follow some New Brunswickers that are part of the solution. The idea generators:
Marcel Lebrun, Chris Newton, Kurt Peacock, Susan Holt, Steven, David Campbell, Rob Hoadley for a start…

And kudos to UNB President Eddy Campbell and the remarkable impact he has made on the University in such a short time period.

Celebrate those who innovate, work hard and give back.

Let’s make success cool again.

Note: I wrote the majority of this post last weekend. I see that a recent Daily Gleaner article written by David Murrell (UNB Department of Economics professor) has addressed some of the themes above.

I attended the Team Up Foundation’s celebration of impact breakfast at e11even.

Michael Bartlett, Team Up’s Executive Director, shared some of the following data on TUF’s impact:

Since launching in December 2009, TUF has invested $4.5 Million back into the community, through refurbishments, recreational programming grants and ticket donations.

• 230 underserviced youth now have the opportunity to play organized sports thanks to our grant to our charitable partner, Kidsport
• 2,000 students across 20 schools are participating in Right To Play’s first Toronto-based school recreation program, led by 350 student leaders, thanks to our investment
• 2,500 youth taken their first strides through a free Learn to Skate program at one of our 20 refurbished hockey rinks
• 3,500 youth, across 3 soccer leagues now have safe – and top quality – pitches to play on, following our refurbishments of the pitches at G. Ross Lord Park and Sorauren Park
• 7,900 intellectually disable student athletes are able to travel and compete in Ontario-wide competitions, thanks to our funding partnership with Special Olympics Ontario
• 15,000 residents now have access to an all-star quality outdoor basketball court following our refurbishment project in St. James Town, which has become the gathering space for one of Toronto’s most densely populated neighbourhoods

Two videos from the event:

Great analysis by Larry Coon, as always:

The players are holding out for an additional $120 million in 2011-12, but holding out costs them $82.4 million per week. They would lose everything they stand to gain this season in less than two weeks. On Monday the league is expected to announce the cancellation of the first two weeks of the season, which will cost the players $164.8 million.

Link

Zach Lowe of Sports Illustrated picked up our NBA lockout post

 Tom Liston of Raptors Republic has some ideas for how the owners and the players might compromise. The headliner here is an escalating luxury-tax system, where penalties get steeper as a team’s collective salary commitments rise. But Liston makes another good point: Lots of people want to abolish the rule that says teams over the cap must send out salary in any trade just about equal to the salary that trade is going to bring in. I’m convinced that about half the support for such a massive change comes from people who are tired of seeing if their wild trade proposal fits the NBA’s salary-matching rules — and of being disappointed when they find it does not.

 

 

Liston’s point is this: If you take away the matching requirements, teams could theoretically send out a ton of salary, take almost nothing back in return and find themselves below the salary floor. Should the league ban trades like this? Give the low-payroll team a limited time frame in which to get their payroll back up above the floor? It’s just another example of the ripple effect each mini-proposal brings.

Use the Force for Good at www.su2c.com/usetheforce