By Griff Wigley, on July 25th, 2006
After a few hours of snapping photos this afternoon (I’ll put some of those up in the morning), I was delighted to run into blogger Mary Reid (less well known as the mayor of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames) and her husband and fellow Councillor Ian Reid. They were about to have dinner at our hotel’s Corso Restaurant which has an open-air terrace on the Danube, and they graciously invited me to join them.
Tonight was one of those spectacular summer nights to dine outdoors: warm, no bugs, no wind. And the scenery, including a stunning sunset, was quite memorable with the Buda Castle Royal Palace and the Chain Bridge (connecting Buda and Pest) lit up in the background. Plus, we met some familiar people, too: Fraser, Julia, Susie, and others. Click photos to enlarge.
       
By Griff Wigley, on July 25th, 2006
 
It’s 3 pm Tuesday in Budapest and I’m now online with a high-speed internet connection from my hotel room here at the Intercontinental Hotel in City Center.
I was a bit delayed in getting here from the Ferihegy airport — the mini-bus had a flat tire right as we were leaving. But I was with two delightful women from the UK who helped pass the time with their interesting travel stories.
I took the photo on the right from my room. That’s the Buda Castle Royal Palace on the other side of the Danube River. It’s hot and humid here, much like the weather I just left in Minnesota. Time for a nap, then a little sightseeing, some exercise, some food, and some work on my presentation.
By Griff Wigley, on July 23rd, 2006
In yesterday’s StarTribune: Blogs setting a new pace for political races; in today’s Pioneer Press: Warning for Democrats: Beware of blog.
I rarely read the politically partisan bloggers, either here in Minnesota or on the national scene, but there’s no denying their importance, as these articles point out.
My message to those running for office: having your own blog, written by you, can be a good strategy for dealing with the political blogosphere. Nothing beats an authentic voice when attacked and a blog excels at leveraging that voice.
It’s surprising to me how few political candidates here in Minnesota have their own blogs. I approached two here in the Northfield area in the past couple of weeks and both decided to go ahead. As soon as they have a few postings up, I’ll announce them here.
By Griff Wigley, on July 21st, 2006
 On Monday, I depart for next week’s International e-Participation and Local Democracy Symposium in Budapest, Hungary. As the UK’s ReadMyDay weblog coach, I’ll be doing a couple of presentations on leadership blogging while I’m there, and again the following week in Baltimore, Maryland.
 My UK colleagues and I will use the ICELE weblog that I set up yesterday to post reports, photos and audio from both events. Once the events are over, that weblog might end… or it might continue on in some capacity. I plan to add some of the same posts here.
This weekend, I’ll be spiffing up the ICELE blog and its sidebars and then starting Tuesday, I’ll begin blogging my travels from Amsterdam to Budapest where I’ll be staying at the Intercontinental Hotel.
I’ll have my laptop with me in Budapest and I’ve been promised a high-speed internet connection from my hotel room, so if you’re a client and need me for anything, I should be able to respond.
By Griff Wigley, on July 10th, 2006
 Jonathan Schwartz is CEO of Sun Microsystems, a Fortune 500 company (#211) with about $11 billion in annual revenues. He became CEO earlier this year when longtime CEO Scott McNealy stepped down. He’s evidently the only Fortune 500 CEO to have a weblog.
He’s been posting to his Jonathan’s Blog since June of 2004 where he listed his reasons for starting one:
First, I’m a big believer in the idea that innovation is self-sustaining when it loses its predictability. I figured I’d do my part to promote self-sustenance. Second, to change the format and fidelity with which what I say is transcribed. No more comments from the pundits “in context.” Now you get them straight from me. Third, to get unfiltered feedback from the community… I promise to listen – from all the constituencies we serve (customers, stockholders, developers, consumers, suppliers… all).
He’s got a tough job ahead of him… slashing thousands of jobs and getting the company back on a profitable track. But after reading a few of his recent posts with his new CEO hat on, I like how he’s using his blog. Some examples:
This April post on why he’ll continue blogging emphasizes the importance of “… unparalleled transparency into everything we do, precisely because it’s the most efficient mechanism to accelerate change…” He sees his blogging as an example of this transparency, and specifically said so again two months later in this post: “You can tell I’m a big fan of transparency – that’s why I write a blog (with comments on, and yes, I read every one, as do a host of others at Sun). It’s why I encourage others to drive the conversation in the market, as well. Transparency’s at least a part of the solution. If not an outright competitive weapon.” This paragraph was preceded by a link to a blog host by a very unhappy customer.
He also walks the talk by hosting a visit from a competitor, a well-known Microsoft blogger named Robert Scoble, who in turned blogged at length about their lunch. They both caught quite a bit of heat from the comments attached to their posts.
I like it that he’s regularly mentioning specific employees in his blog posts, detailing what they do, their recent accomplishments, or their new assignments. He really should include photos in these posts, however, as any mention of a real person with a photo, especially an employee, propels that entry into the blogosphere and email inboxes with a force many times a text-only post.
Lastly, his posts seem to be increasingly less frequent. I’m guessing he’s fallen into the trap of thinking he must have Big and Important Things to blog about because otherwise he’s too busy. He’s not yet mastered the art of blogging very short stories that can be as effective.
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