Next generation isn't slacking

OK, I'm proud to admit it but my children are savvier about technology than me. IM, Skype, Facebook, Twitter, Pandora Radio, CraigsList... On every one of those my daughters beat me to the punch. No doubt, digital media is in the center of their lives. They embrace it while for me it's often an intrusion. So a typical parent might say, "they're wasting time and brain cells." Most of the time I'm typical, but recently I had to stand up and take notice.

Last month my 13 year-old daughter launched a website. She built it completely herself, signed up for Google AdWords and PayPal linked to her bank account, and immediately began taking orders. So while I was her age I delivered newspapers rain-or-shine to at best 95 houses in the local community; she's selling hand-painted baby gifts to all 50 states without ever having to put on a jacket. (Shameless plug, please visit Rainbows and Lollipops.)

Where does this all go next? I certainly don't know, yet I'm completely confident in who will be leading the charge.

Someone to listen to

I've grown up in and around the advertising business. One campaign I always remembered is, "when E.F. Hutton talks, people listen." Sure that company has since been engulfed by a larger financial firm, but I miss what that message represented. Is it just me, or is there so much talk, that nothing earns that "lean in" any more?

But there is one person who gets my ear. (Look at my photo and you'll see that my ear already sticks out.) That wise sage is also in finance. No secret it's Warren Buffett. For more than a decade I've marked my calendar to the Saturday when Buffett releases his annual shareholder letter. This year was no exception. I can't help but be cuptivated by the big themes tackled in such plain language. I suggest reading it yourself at Berkshire's site.

With Passover less than a month away I must acknowledge Mitchell Epstein the writer of the E.F. Hutton theme. Because he also penned the classic "Man, Oh Manischewitz."