Levi-Montalcini on Contribution

“It’s not enough what I did in the past – there is also the future.”

–Rita Levi-Montalcini (1909 – )
Italian scientist, senator
Nobel Prize winner

Think about your work (contribution).

Whether you feel lucky or not with what you’ve been given (or earned) as your opportunity to work, you’re ultimately just a steward of it for a relatively brief period in time.

It will be handed off to someone else at some point (your territory, your team, your customers).

If you thought of that work as being put in a box to be given to someone else, what would you want the recipient to think when they opened it up?

Wouldn’t you want it to be something that’s difficult to improve on?

Wouldn’t you want them to crack open that box… look in… smile… and say… “Wow. That’s great work.”

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Holmes on The Inevitable

“The mode in which the inevitable comes to pass is through effort.”

–Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (1841–1935)

American judge

(REMINDER: Clocks and watches should be ahead one hour as of yesterday morning in North America.)

Do your actions…

  1. create a positive buzz about you and your work?
  2. make others want you as a part of their team?
  3. make your employer cringe at the thought of losing you to a competitor?
  4. make your customers excited about referring you to their colleagues?

You want your actions to scream value without the need for you to say a word. This is where you want to be – with those in your company and industry – and with those to whom you’re selling.

This is what creates true economic and job security – the value you and your team create for others.

This is care (what it’s all about).

When you have the opportunity over the next few days, set a reminder to review these four questions at the end of each month. Then, give yourself a little (objective) attention by reviewing them and creating an action plan to improve in each area where you feel you should.

Easier said than done… still needs to be done.

Last Call for Google I/O

For those of you who were quick to register, we thank you for continuing to support our developer initiatives — this year’s I/O is slated to be one of our best yet. For the rest of our developers, we weren’t kidding when we told you we <3 our developers.

Starting Wednesday, March 16, we will be launching Last Call for Google I/O: A contest that spans 10 days, 10 developer challenges and 100 chances to win tickets to attend the now-sold-out Google I/O 2011.

Here’s how it works. We will announce a new challenge on the contest site on select dates at either 9am or 4pm PDT, that will last for 24 hours each. There will be 10 days of challenges with 10 winners on each day, spanning the following developer products:

  • March 16 – Android, 9:00 am
  • March 17 – Chrome, 9:00 am
  • March 18 – App Engine, 9:00 am
  • March 21 – YouTube APIs, 9:00 am
  • March 22 – Game Developers, 9:00 am
  • March 23 – Google Maps / Geo, 4:00 pm
  • March 24 – Commerce, 9:00 am
  • March 25 – Developer Tools / GWT, 9:00 am
  • March 28 – Accessibility, 4:00 pm
  • March 29 – Google Apps / Enterprise, 4:00 pm

Each of the challenges will focus on one of our developer products and has two rounds. Plan to be in front of your computers for the first half-hour that the challenge starts to complete a series of questions for Round I, which will qualify you for the main coding challenge in Round II. You will have a little over 20hrs to complete Round II.

We want to make sure that we provide the opportunity to attend Google I/O to as many developers as possible and hope you’re feeling up to the task. The contest is valid in the 50 United States and the District of Columbia with winners being announced on April 4. And don’t forget that we will be livestreaming the keynotes and taping sessions during Google I/O. Stay tuned!