Iran

What's happening over there seems to me to be the first "revolution" in the 21st century sense of the word. Perhaps a bit smaller and more tentative than a "classic" revolution, but fueled by dramatically enhanced communication and media distribution at a grassroots level.

Perhaps this type of revolution will prove more effective and less bloody than others. We can only hope.

As an American, I feel that it is my duty to go on record supporting the people in Iran who want a government that is more open, a society that is more free, and a country that is more their own.

North Korea

Here's a thought:

The US should covertly airdrop satellite Internet enabled laptops into certain regions of North Korea. These regions should be carefully chosen to represent areas that are friendly toward the concept of gradual free market expansion, and not necessarily 100% in bed with Pyongyang.

The laptops should direct users to an open online marketplace designed to provide goods and services to North Koreans on terms that are fair to them, and which are worthwhile for outside investors.

Products ordered through this system would then be airdropped into the country.

After a while, if the system proved beneficial for the North Koreans who participated, the foundation for a market economy revolution could be developed. Best case scenario, it wouldn't even need to be a revolution, but rather just a silent readiness standing by for when the dictatorship loses its supposed ironclad grip on power.

Stranger things have happened.

My Apple rumor

Disclaimer: I do not want anyone to think that my intent is to make fun of someone's deeply personal life and possible medical challenges. That said...

What if sometime back in 2008- probably toward the end of the first quarter/beginning of the second- Barack Obama reached out to Steve Jobs and made him an offer? What if, working in partnership with a small team of executives from General Motors, Obama had assembled a shadow executive class within the company, comprised of GM's best and brightest, and a few visionary industry outsiders? What if Obama promised this team that, should he win the election, he would orchestrate a scenario in which they would assume responsibility for the company? And what if Obama offered Jobs singular and complete control over this shadow company within a company, and the mandate to do whatever necessary to completely revitalize the US auto industry?

If that were to have happened, it would be conceivable that Jobs would go on a severe diet to lend credibility to the personal illness cover story that had been concocted to explain his eventual need to leave Apple for a period of time toward the end of the covert operation at GM.

Under a scenario like this, sometime within the next few months we'd see a grand public unveiling of the entire operation, along with a business model and product line that would inject the US with a burst of excitement, a grand reintroduction to the world's industrial markets, and an economic revitalization on the order of the end of World War II.

I'd like to think that something like that is possible.

General Motors

I think the government's doing the right thing by orchestrating a "friendly" bankruptcy process for GM. It may not be perfect, but based on all of the readily apparent options, the administration's actions seem like the best choice.

Moving the company forward, however, is going to require real innovation. The government has wisely sent signals that it does not intend to micromanage the company's product or operations roadmaps. That means that the future of the company is going to rely on the ingenuity of its private management to make smart choices.

Good.

What GM's management should do is recognize the unique opportunity it has been given. The company commands a strong brand that is deeply woven into the fabric of American industrial history. Millions of Americans have a direct stake in the success of the company. And more than just jobs and economics, the success of GM is connected to feelings of nationalism and patriotism.

GM's product roadmap and employee compensation/benefit model has been broken for decades, but that doesn't mean that the essence of what lies behind a behemoth American car company can't be made relevant.

Stop thinking about cars and trucks. Stop thinking about graying executives in office suites making poor decisions. Stop thinking about unions holding the future of the company hostage. Stop thinking about politicians bending laws to make the whole broken system last just a little bit longer...

GM should set up something akin to the X Prize where individuals and small companies are dared to come up with innovative ideas that would take advantage of what the company could provide.

In essence, GM should outsource its innovation, but not pay for it up front. Rather, they should provide prizes and rewards in the form of GM stock, which would be extremely cheap to offer but have tremendous upside potential if the right ideas are made real.

With GM, we've got a massive machine that is surely capable of creating something of value- or of changing itself into something that can with the right type of innovative leadership. And with its stock so low, why not incentivize the very best of America's innovators to chart its course? Doing so would help them, help the company, help the largest share of current GM employees possible, and help America.