Tesla's Gigafactory

Nikola Tesla was one of the greatest inventors of all time. So, a company with his name attached should be one that thinks differently, expands imagination, and stretches our ideas.

Elon Musk is building toward an electric future, and this factory in Nevada is testament to that.

Learn more about this fascinating spark of imagination (actually a gigaspark): https://www.teslamotors.com/gigafactory

houston@figment-consulting.com

Zero to One: It's time to quit pretending

Peter Thiel's book Zero to One, Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future, states that when we create something new, we go from 0 to 1.

Paypal (of which Thiel was a founder) took online payments from 0 to 1. Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, is an individual focused on going from 0 to 1. Mark Zuckerberg took us from 0 to 1 when Facebook was created.

As Thiel states though, "It is easier to copy a model than to make something new; doing what we already know how to do takes the world from 1 to n, adding more of something familiar."

When full-time virtual schools were introduced they took education from 0 to 1. They were an "act of creation, and the result was something fresh and strange."

Now, virtual schools are attempting to move from 0 to n. Remember, it is easier to copy a model, to do what we already know how to do. The problem is that the current n is not worth modeling.

My energy and effort is centered on the desire to have us rethink n and return to creating something new, with the hope of moving us again from 0 to 1.

Let's stop pretending. It's time to create something new in virtual schooling.

houston@figment-consulting.com

Why did Tomorrowland bomb at the box office?

My family and I went to see the Disney movie Tomorrowland yesterday (sounds funny when you say it). It had been on our radar since we first heard it was coming out. And, even after all of the negative reviews, and the narrative that it bombed at the box office, we wanted to see it.

For us, it was one of the best movies we have ever seen -- not because of the acting, or the visuals, or the actors and actresses involved. That was not our purpose in seeing it. We were attracted to it for other reasons.

So, why did it bomb at the box office? According to others it was a myriad of factors that included:

* Secrecy is not always a good idea -- the premise of it is hard to explain in a sentence or a 30-second ad because of the story's complex mythology.

* George Clooney is not a box-office draw -- the King of Hollywood doesn't sell tickets in proportion to people's fascination with him.

* Tougher-than-expected competition -- Poltergeist, Mad Max, and Pitch Perfect 2.

* Memorial Day openings are not a license to print money -- Not even a four day window can save a poorly made movie.

* The "select" Thursday preview -- only 701 theaters offered the movie on Thursday evening out of 3,972 venues overall on Friday.

Other articles seem to share the sentiment of this one in some form or another. They place the failure on marketing, Clooney, competition, or some other idea related to the script or quality of the movie itself.

I wonder though if they could be wrong? Perhaps they have missed the real reason why it did not meet expectations at the box office?

Perhaps the real reason it was not accepted by the masses could be found in the movie itself. As I sat there watching it yesterday, it occurred to me during one pivotal scene -- I bet this is why the public turned away from it. I caught myself contemplating the subtle difference this movie has when compared to the others -- one that is difficult to accept when one is not ready for it.

houston@figment-consulting.com

You should fear failure

if you do not desire to grow, to learn, to improve yourself, then yes fear failure.

If, on the other hand, you see failure for what it truly is, and understand that within it lies great opportunities for those who seek for it when experiencing failure, then you can use failure to aid you in achieving greater growth.

Read more on the lives of the following and see how they understood the role failure can play in success:

Steve Jobs
Nikola Tesla
Glenn Casey
Bill Gates
Sara Blakely
Warren Buffett
Thomas Edison
Henry Ford
Arianna Huffington

houston@figment-consulting.com