Director of Ideas... that would be cool on a business card

Saw this job posting today and thought this might be a fun job that involved creativity and innovation. On the other hand it could just be a fancy name for the advertising agency's 'creative director'. Wouldn't it be cool if the position was a different title for their 'strategy or innovation director'?

JOB OPENING: SVP IDEA DIRECTOR/SAN FRANCISCO, CA: Drive exploration of consumer insights - focus on the creation new, bleeding edge media ideas and approaches. talent@zenithoptimedia-na.com

My trip to the Chinese consulate (or what how could you improve the chinese consulate experience)

I'm off to Shanghai, China at the end of March for a school-sponsored trip. Imagine lots of lectures at the local Chinese business school mixed in with company tours and karaoke and big banquets. Sounds like a fun way to spend spring break, right? Look for entries from China soon.
In order to get to China though, I had to apply for a Visa through the local consulate office here in San Francisco. (Although I've been to China twice before I've never went through the visa application process myself). Because Monday was President's Day and the Chinese government doesn't fawn over American presidents-- the office was opened and I made the consul my first errand of a busy day.

When I arrived at 9:30 I figured that there would be a short line-- I was quite mistaken. I entered to find a room that was completely packed with people waiting their turn to drop off their visa applications or to pick up their visas. I picked up my number (distributed neatly by a computerized machine) and began to 'case' the joint.

Some observations:
- About 40 mounted chairs in the main area of the room. These seats faced the electronic notification boards that alternated between instructions on the visa application process and status updates on what number was being called to which window.
- There was a separate area for picking up applications and filling them out (complete with applications in various languages). A tip for those of you are planning on applying for a visa-- download a PDF and do it at home first.
- There was a crowded information area which served dual duty as a passport photo station - There were about 9 windows, 2 dedicated for pickup and the others assigned for application drop-off.
- Office hours are from 9am to 3pm but between 12-1pm, the staff take a lunch break

All in all it took me an hour to drop off the application. I came across some other Haas students and was able to help them reduce their wait by submitting all of our applications together. The wait would have been 1.5 or 2 hrs for them. Interestingly, it only took 4 minutes to turn in our paperwork once we got the service window.

Understandably with the Summer Olympics in Beijing, there is probably abnormal demand for visas this year. There are vendors / travel agents who offer to assist in the visa processing system (a quick Google search shows the prices range from $20 to $150 for the convenience). Sounds like a business plan that I might have to explore some more.

***************
Some tips for improvement... (putting on my operations / innovation hat)
- Add a system for estimated wait time
- A television system (tourism clips, anyone?) to distract the room from the length of the wait
- Make a formal queue system for the 'free-for-all' information area
- Have a food/tea cart outside (they don't prohibit food inside the office but there were no nearby businesses)
- An online reservation system -- this has worked well for the DMV, I think it could also work well for the visa process. In many cases, acquiring a visa isn't a last minute thing.
- Creating a priority (premium priced) line -- wanna skip to the front of the line? Pay $50 and jump to the front of the line. Maybe they could use those funds to lower the average visa request ($130 now)
- Extending hours - I'm sure the consulate has statistics on the number of patrons served per hour-- but I think that expanding the business hours would probably shorten wait times.

As a final update, I picked up my visa 4 days after dropping off the application. I arrived twenty minutes before the 'lunch break' was over and got my number (not the one below but very similiar). The pickup line moved a lot faster so I was done after 40 minutes of patient waiting. Unfortunately for the people who were looking to drop off applications, there were only three windows open. I'd have to estimate that the majority of the room was looking at wait times of 2+ hours. Ouch!

I didn't have much interaction with the Falun Gong protestors as my goal was getting my visa approved with as little hassle as possible. :) That's the same reason I didn't take any pictures of the office. Photos and videos are strictly prohibited.

President's Day @ the airport

So I spent President's day at San Francisco International Airport trying to catch moments of 'happiness' in a mundane place (think baggage claim). Armed with cameras and a camcorder our team "attacked" the airport in the hopes of good grades and our own little piece of happiness.

After spending about 5 hours talking to people flying home though SFO we got our fair number of happy (back from a long weekend in Vegas), sad (bags from New Orleans were no where to be found) and indifferent (some baggage claim staff).

I think we did okay. My own personal happiness at the airport can be summed up by the following two pictures -- sitting on the baggage claim (and not getting yelled at) for the first time ever and running into my pal Howie in the International Terminal (what are the chances of running into someone I know-- pretty darned good with my network, apparently).

Fast Company's Most Innovative

In the past three years I've tried to pare down my magazine subscriptions but I still appreciate the value of Fast Company. The magazine generally does a great job of detailing the interaction between brand, innovation and management. As I read this month's issue on Friday I couldn't help but think about all of the stories that related to my strategy and marketing class.

This month's cover story is the magazine's list of most innovative firms with Google topping FC's list again. I think that by remaining 'open' and using a creative approach to challenges and opportunities -- innovative companies place themselves in the best possible position for success. Powerful companies will continue to be outmaneuvered by fleet competitors or humbled by industry changes (see Borland, Kodak). The best they can do is stay focused on their competitors and flexible through innovation to survive.

The article poses an interesting question for the Google team-- if you could do anything for the world at Google-- what would you do? We addressed that question during our Six Thinking Hats marketing exercise last week and I think it must be really excited to work at a place where making a difference is a priority. As an additional bonus the magazine featured a great photo of Cisco's director of user experience, Irene Au, covered with colored post-its. The effective practice of 'brainstorming via post-its' at its best.

Bittersweet Valentine's

I've only had a handful of meaningful Valentine's Day experiences but this year promises to be a meaningful one for years to come. Receiving this beautiful bouquet of flowers at work was certainly special but it only made me miss M even more.

I haven't written many entries here in the last few years but I think that this is the start of a new batch of entries. I've got several reasons for sharing what's on my mind and I think I've got some interesting thoughts to share. I hope you'll send me feedback along the way.

LinkedIn page for Gilbert Lee is movin' up

It appears that my LinkedIn page has moved to the first page of Google listings for Gilbert Lee. That places me around #10 on the Google chart so I've got some work to do. Do me a favor and link to this page. You'll increase my page rank!


Google search for 'Gilbert Lee'

******************
UPDATE - 4/13/08: LinkedIn page for Gilbert Lee is ranked #5 in Google search. Lovely.

being the #1 gilbert lee

As part of my brand management efforts, I have committed to a new goal of taking over the top Google ranking for my name 'Gilbert Lee'. Although my internet presence is spread around (yelp, linkedin, this blog), a blog search of my name is underwhelming.

Why is this important? Building a personal brand is essential if you want to be an authority or specialist in some area. Personally, I don't know what that area is yet -- but I think that a strong, personal brand might do me some good. First step, pick up the blogging. :)

I'll let you know how it goes.

Grateful it is over

October 2006 - A month that I'm glad is finally over. Won't be forgetting this month anytime soon.

Fletch Lives!

Anyone see the resemblence? Tell me that she doesn't look like Fletch.

Hey, that's me!

Lots of new things to report. Some good, some not so good. Here's a quick link to keep you interested.

www.apitoday.com

Something from me to you

I can't believe I haven't posted this yet... definitely something that is important to me. Please feel free to share it with your family. Web page on Asian Americans and Liver Cancer.

Lord Stanley's Cup!

Another perk of working at Comcast Network Sales... getting to hang out with Lord Stanley's Cup. Too bad that the Sharks' dropped Game 3 of their Western Conference semifinals against the Oilers.

Remember the Alamo! Marisa and I in San Antonio...

Bai Ling & Me

Look, celebrity sighting! Here I am with the (in)famous Bai Ling. Picture taken at press conference for the 2006 Asian Excellence Awards.

If a tree falls...

Imagine waking up and finding your car looking like this. The uncharacteristic strong winds of Southern California hit again.

Laker Hater

In honor of the Lakers being down 2-1 in the NBA Finals... I'm wearing my USA Basketball Gary Payton jersey. Its a bit too big for me but I'm representing for my favorite Laker. Now I just need to get a Ben Wallace jersey. :)

Ah, redesign... how refreshing...

oh, got me a gmail account. ;)

still no gmail... darn it!

darn.. no gmail account.. fooey!