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Received several books from my Amazon.com wishlist as Christmas gifts this year. I'm looking forward to reading all of them. I may post thoughts here as I work my way through the stack received from my generous family and friends. For now, thought I'd share what caught my interest and what I intend to be reading over the next couple months.

What Got You Here Won't Get You There: I found this book while browsing at a Barnes & Noble. Nobody recommended it. It just looked good and relevant to my new career opportunity. As I begin at Red Bull, I want to ensure that I do not simply rely on what I've done in the past as a strategy for future success. It won't work. The expectations at Red Bull are different and I want my contributions, attitude, and behavior to reflect where I want to be not what I've been. I believe this book by Marshall Goldsmith will help me identify workplace habits that I should break and not keep.

Here Comes Everybody: I've been a fan of Clay Shirky since I read his Content Shifts to the Edges piece in April 2000. I was working at move.com then which had a "content at the center" model and could see the logic in the content at the edges model that Shirky described. While it didn't come about exactly as he described, we do, in many verticals, have an environment today where content is distributed and search is the connecting thread. Good stuff. I saw Clay speak at ad:tech Chicago this past summer and generally liked his examples and thinking. That's what inspired me to add Here Comes Everybody to the wishlist. I'm looking forward to reading it.

Always On - Advertising, Marketing and Media in Era of Consumer Control: Not sure how this one made the wishlist. I expect, as a digital marketing leader, I already know most of what I will read inside. My hope is that I find some useful ways to simplify concepts, some quality cases, and  models for use in developing strategy that are easy to understand for novices. It's a small book and looks like an easy read. Might be a good one to share with brand marketers less familiar with digital marketing.

The World Cafe - Shaping Our Futures Through Conversations That Matter: This book was recommended by Dr. Steve Julius, who worked with the marketing leadership team when I was at ConAgra Foods. I asked him to recommend books on leadership or communication that were particularly influential on his perspective. This was one of his recommendations. I don't know exactly what to expect but I'm looking forward to digging into it. My hope is that it provides a model for communications that helps me interact with the large teams I'm part of at Red Bull.

The Portable Coach: This book came up in my Amazon.com recommendations. After flipping through it, I am really excited. It's structured almost like a workbook and looks to have tons of actionable stuff inside that will help me become a better leader and teammate. This is going to be the first one I read from this list after I finish my current read (The Watchmen).

Team of Rivals: This book was also recommended by Dr. Steve Julius. He recommended it prior to when it became a blazing bestseller after the Presidential election. He said the book describes the strategy Lincoln employed of making his greatest rivals his closest advisors. Obama has studied, complimented, and is considering Lincoln's strategy as he makes decisions about who his closest advisors will be. I'm sure the book will be an interesting read. I look forward to learning in detail about the strengths and weaknesses of Lincoln's team building strategy.

The World is Flat: Dan Murphy at ConAgra Foods recommended this one a long time ago when it was atop the bestseller lists. I don't know anything about it but Dan is a very smart and interesting guy. His recommendation together with the fact that this book sold so many copies has me believing it will be a good read. I'd classify this as a pleasure read. I believe I will enjoy it and it will make me a better knowledgable dude overall.

Have Glove, Will Travel: Nobody recommended this. I read "The Wrong Stuff" last year and loved it. It was a fun read and I've been a Bill Lee fan since I started following the Sox. He is an amazing talent who has a true love for the game of baseball. Unfortunately, he couldn't get out of his own way during his career in the Major Leagues with the Red Sox and Expos.

Wow. I cannot believe todays games went the way they did. Just finished watching the Bears-Texans game in HD while keeping up with the Oakland-Tampa Bay game online at NFL.com. I’m stunned and now EXTREMELY excited to watch the Birds play Dallas in the home closer.

This game is so freaking huge. The Eagles have had a horrible season. Truly Horrible. The offense overall has been the problem. It’s not McNabb. It’s not lacking a top-tier receiver. And it’s not weakness in the offensive line or with Westbrook or Buckhalter. And, finally, it’s not Andy Reid’s playcalling even though he is as pass-happy as he has always been. It’s different screwups every week resulting in the Eagles sucking.

That said, I have to believe destiny is in our favor here. The Raiders beat huge odds to take out Tampa Bay in Tampa Bay. The Bears lost to the Texans in Houston in a game that was critical for Chicago and meaningless to Houston. And now, as I write, the Eagles are playing the Cowboys (in Philly) for a playoff spot and a chance in the NFL’s second season. Despite the complete crap record this season for the Birds, we do have a talented team. Talented enough to do some damage in the playoffs and maybe win all their games leading to a Super Bowl berth. I’m not crazy... I’ve seen commentators say Philly has been the best team in the NFC during the 2nd half of the season and they’re more right than they are wrong.

So cheers to the Birds and here’s hoping for a win today. Akers just kicked a 40 yard FG to score the first three points of the game and I’m very, very hopeful. I know our defense can slow the Cowboys effectively. My concern is if the offense can keep it together and put enough points on the board to produce the win.

POST-GAME FOLLOWUP: I was right. Destiny was with us. And my concerns about scoring were without merit. The Birds offense and defense both seemed to score at will. Beautifully played. Birds win 44-6. The largest winning margin ever in Eagles-Cowboys history. Wonderful to see Dallas completely crumble. See you in the playoffs.

Bob Gilbreath sent this to me before anyone at Red Bull did.  Clearly the force in his viral video detection skills is strong...or maybe it's his RSS feeds.  Very cool video of Duncan Zuur wakeboarding across the flooded square using a winch for power.

I'm outta there.  After nearly four years of service at ConAgra Foods (CAG), I've decided to leave for an offer I couldn't refuse.  Santa Monica and Red Bull are calling and I couldn’t be more excited!

For this post, I'm taking a moment to consider my experiences at ConAgra Foods.  I joined the ConAgra Foods corporate marketing team in January 2005.  I inherited a smart and talented interactive marketing team, a roster of around eight digital agencies, and existing interactive assets and programs for CAG’s portfolio of well loved but often neglected consumer brands.

The team changed over time and the agency roster did too.  Both generally for the better but not always.  Biggest agency lesson learned: Cultural fit is the MOST important thing for a client and agency to share.  If that isn't there, you're really doomed no matter how hard you try.  Really dig deep on cultural fit when you're considering new agencies.  Biggest team lesson learned: If your gut is telling you something is wrong...there is something wrong.  After all, what is “gut feel”?  It is knowledge gained in the past informing your perspective on the present.  I will trust my gut more in the future.

The work I’m most proud of from my time leading digital marketing strategy at ConAgra Foods is Simple and Delicious.  My team developed many strategic and effective programs over the years. None of them come close to Simple and Delicious in my opinion.  I’m also proud of the major changes in attitude and behavior that we inspired among CAG marketers.  Interactive marketing’s share of the media budget grew nearly 800% over four years.  Sure...shifting consumer media habits inspired some of the change.  A great deal of the increase was also driven by my team’s incredible passion and energy and the business results we generated.

ConAgra Foods was a fantastic experience.  We generated great results and also learned valuable lessons.  There are too many individuals and external partners who contributed to CAG’s success and my success to thank them individually.  I do thank everyone involved though.  I truly enjoyed my time at ConAgra Foods and count it as one of my best work experiences.  I wish the team at ConAgra foods and all the partners I worked with great success in the future.

Now it is time for the next challenge.  Red Bull awaits.  I am PASSIONATE about the brand and the opportunities ahead.  Moving back to California is also thrilling.  We’ve had a great time but as the temperature descends into the 30s and 40s across the Chicagoland area, we are ready to bring our Midwest adventure to a close and return to sunshine, palm trees, and the positive attitudes that prevail on the left coast.

I had the image below hanging in my workspace at ConAgra Foods.  It's a simple yet wise statement...especially wise for CPG marketers to keep in mind.  Scale is valuable but scale isn't "It".  Reaching the a smaller number of the "right" consumers when they're most receptive is MUCH better than reaching a ton of consumers who are either not receptive or not likely to purchase your brand.  Yes, it's obvious but I still see plenty of examples of CPG marketers going for scale vs. quality.  Think about it.  Are you spending media dollars to reach the "wrong" people efficently?