Yesterday the internet went ablaze when popular author and speaker Malcolm Gladwell said in an interview (above) that history will exalt Bill Gates, and many will forget Steve Jobs. He went on to talk about how Gates has spent his retirement doing charitable things, while Jobs worked tirelessly til his early death on expanding Apple. Gladwell ascertains Gate’s charitable work will leave a greater impact on humanity than Apple’s legacy.

I think that the web’s response has completely lost touch with the context of the interview and most coverage has been focused on sensational headlines meant to drive up CTRs. I mean let’s face it, saying anything negative about Steve Jobs online, is like kicking a puppy in front of a class of third graders.

A few weeks ago I heard some SEO friends talking about how an SEO they know of had screwed over a bunch of his clients. After talking with them a bit more it also sounded like this same SEO didn’t know very much about SEO at all. It got me thinking about a strange phenomenon I have witnessed in the field of marketing.

If you are bad at marketing, there’s a high probability that you are also a scumbag. Think about all of the jerks you have met in marketing, now ask yourself, were they good marketers? Probably not. This odd reality seems to only be true in marketing though. For example you can be a really horrible plumber and also a really nice guy at the same time. You can be an amazing dentist, but a huge jerk as well.

Every now and then I hear a friend of mine that works in the tech space, but in a non-technical area like marketing say, “I am going to teach myself to code”. A lot of the times I hear this around January or February. “This year I will learn PHP!” or “This year I am going to become a Javascript ninja.” And even, “Oh yeah I am excited to learn Ruby!!”. Every time, with out fail I quietly think to myself, “Don’t learn how to code, you are wasting your time.”

Now don’t get me wrong, I am not trying to rain on anybody’s parade. In fact I think we need more enthusiasm around learning new things. But I honestly believe that learning how to code is a complete waste of time unless it is part of the major functions of your job, or you enjoy programming as a hobby.

I hate email. Like really hate it, I spend 90% of my day in my inbox. I don’t get paid for that time. And the worst part is that every email I send is essential. Email is my least favorite part of my job that is constantly required. I have tried every trick in the book and I still can’t shake the email plague. Heck, even as I type this I am looking at my task bar where an alert just told me I have 3 new emails!

People on the internet like to talk a lot. And if you are in business or marketing you probably like talking about making money. I love talking about new entrepreneur ideas and what works and what doesn’t. But do you know what I have grown to hate?

Bullshit, that’s what.

You can call me a cynic if you like, but to me it seems like a lot of marketing bloggers or so called entrepreneurs on the internet spend more time spewing complete BS than actually making money. Chris Brogan has a new approach to this BS parade. He explains it like this on Google+:

I’ve started asking people with arrogant perspectives to demonstrate what they have done when arguing a point.

When I was a kid my father used to take me fishing. We didn’t go all the time, but because I grew up close to the water, we probably went more than most. One time we went was so memorable I can still remember it like it was yesterday. It was a hot Saturday in the middle of summer. We decided to try our luck in an area of the marsh that we had never fished. So my father rowed our little wooden row boat out in the middle of the creek and anchored it along the bank of the marsh, right beside an oyster bed.

Over the last 5 years of helping clients design and build their imagination on the internet, I have come to realize that most don’t know the difference between creativity and skill. In this post I will explain it so you can quit making the same mistakes that so many do.

Skill, is the ability to draw or paint a horse. Creativity, is putting a horn on its head and calling it a unicorn.

Skill is sculpting clay or stone to make structures. Creativity, is applying those same skills to make buildings that one can only dream of.

Skill is sewing felt and foam together. Creativity is giving it character and personality.

As you can see, skill and creativity are two different things entirely. Unfortunately, most that hire developers and designers never understand this. Typically, this is how things progress: