Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men.

Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks.

Then, the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be the miracle.


- Phillip Brooks (1835-1893), Episcopal Bishop



Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work.

- Peter Drucker (1909-2005)

Even with as well as the iTest Tournament of Champions is going (Round 3 begins tomorrow, check out some of the problems at www.theitest.com), it's strange to think that between The iTest in September and the Tournament of Champions in March that those will be the only math events the iTest will hold during the year.

Now that both of these events are up and running and have some momentum behind them, we're going to be focusing exclusively on branching out and creating some compelling competitive experiences beyond math. The iTest CS, our computer science competition, will be launching in full force in Spring 2008, and we'll be moving to pilot another competition probably later that year.

Additionally, over the next month, we're going to be kicking off a full-fledged capital campaign as we need to begin raising awareness of the iTest and raising the money we're going to need to take the organization to the next level.

We are partnering with GroundSpring.org on our fundraising site (which is viewable here) and hope to have some success attracting funds from private individuals, corporations, and foundations through this channel.

Nice to see Vandy blow away George Washington yesterday 77-44. On to the next round tomorrow, and if we can beat Washington State, then its back to the Sweet 16. Nice.

The iTest Tournament of Champions begins Monday. This is going to be a huge event. Check out www.theitest.com to see the printable bracket of the top 64 math students in the nation, who will be duking it out head-to-head until one National Champion remains standing.

That person will be walking away with $2,000 cash for his or her trouble. After all, battling your way through a group of students that will inevitably contain people who will change the planet, and coming out victorious and alone at the VERY TOP, is worth something, right?

Now THAT'S what I'm talking about. This is the very type of national raising-the-bar that the iTest was created to accomplish.

I thought I had a pretty strange day.

But this is one of the most bizarre stories I've ever seen. Easily.

Note the not-so-crappy template I'm using for this blog now (thanks Google! You're the best!)Also, the domain for this blog is now http://bradleymetrock.blogspot.com ... so update your Favorites! :)

Just wrapped up the 11-day travel fiesta by attending the Harvard-MIT Math Tournament here in Boston. It's extremely cold up here but the tournament was very well attended. I had a lot of opportunities to speak with various students and teachers about the iTest and spread the word, and the iTest logo and link were in the program as well. Very good event.

The iTest website will be undergoing some renovation over the next week or two as we get ready for the iTest Tournament of Champions. I'll post here when the website has been updated.

Time to rest up, relax a little bit, and head back to Nashville tomorrow morning.

Back in Nashville just for a moment...Lori and I watched one of our favorite shows on DVD (Law and Order: Special Victims Unit) and just rested, as both of us were up since the early morning hours this morning. Tomorrow, off to Beaufort.

"Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life, or do you want to change the world?"

- Steve Jobs...to John Sculley, in trying to convince him to leave PepsiCo and come work at Apple. Sculley was an innovator and a strong executive talent within Pepsi, and was on the so-called "fast track" at the company before being talked into leaving by Jobs.

Sculley was the one who conceived and implemented the famous "Pepsi Challenge" marketing piece, which allowed Pepsi to gain significant inroads against Coke in the early 80's.

Jobs talked Sculley into leaving and bringing his marketing instincts over to Apple, and not too soon after, Jobs was dismissed by Apple's Board of Directors and Sculley was handed the reins of the company. While Sculley did some great things (laid the groundwork for marketing Mac personal computers and actually coined the term "personal digital assistant" (PDA) ) he was generally outwitted by Bill Gates and Apple never really fulfilled its potential.

Of course, that's where Steve Jobs re-entered the picture in 1997, and Apple's been moving onward and upward ever since.

Anyway, I just find that famous Jobs quote to be pretty interesting when thinking about my generation's very explicit desire to "give back" something to the world. Social causes are among the top considerations in both Generation X and (especially) Generation Y's decision-making, from where they go to college to where they choose to work to where they choose to spend their money.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again:

HUMAN RESOURCES IS THE MOST IMPORTANT BUSINESS FUNCTION OF THE MODERN CORPORATION.

And with that being the case, maybe it's time more employers started winning the global war for talent by using that appeal to a higher calling that Jobs used in the quote above.

Lori and I celebrated our own Valentine's Day yesterday, as that was the only time we could get into Melting Pot (and also, as we found out later, I'd be leaving town Wednesday anyway). We had a great time until a huge table of wound-up 16 and 17-year-olds came in and sat in close proximity to us...again, and I know I've asked this before, are we really getting this old? Where we're casting aspersions on high schoolers just being a little loud, and just being normal?

Regardless, it was nice to celebrate our fifth Valentine's Day together since initially meeting in September of '02. Time is flying.

Out here in Tucson for the moment...nice warm weather. And no laptop power cord, which I left in Nashville. That's going to end this post a little quicker than I'd like. Later.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) is the last day of normalcy before an 11-day jaunt begins on Wednesday that will take me from Phoenix, to Tucson, back to Nashville for less than 24 hours, then to Beaufort, then to Boston, and back home again.

Everything is job related with the exception of flying to Boston for the Harvard-MIT annual math tournament, where the iTest will be sponsoring the event and I'll be meeting with various students and teachers throughout the weekend. This math tournament is one of the most prestigious tournaments, if not the most prestigious, on-site math competition in the United States. I'm definitely pleased that the iTest is a sponsor this year and we will likely be expanding our partnership with this event heading into next year.

None other than Matt Cybulsky sent me this clip of a true prodigy named Jennifer Lin playing some classical stuff in front of a large audience, but to really see what makes this girl stand out, you need to scroll about 2/3 of the way through the clip and see what she does to interact with the audience (and what famous audience member participates in her little stunt) ... very, very incredible. The girl is very self-aware about how she creates her art (listen to her speak somewhere around the middle of the clip) and it shows in her limitless range on the keys and ability to go from graceful, delicate tones to all-out displays of power and then back again. Hard to believe she's only 14 years old.

On another musical note, I caught some of American Idol while waiting for Lori to return from her short course tonight at Vandy and was amazed to see the show allow a 60-something man "audition" by singing a song to his late wife. It was a moment of rare dignity for a show known more for the way it destroys all dignity of various contestants during the audition process. It was jarring to see something of that worth inbetween "the female Taylor Hicks" (don't ask, or watch, for that matter) and "Sparkles" (again, a horrific experience that I would hate to pass along to anyone else who was fortunate enough to not see it).

Tomorrow, off to Birmingham. Now, off to bed.

10-song playlist on the ol' iPod for heading out of Phoenix tomorrow after a great meeting this morning:

John Mayer - Stop This Train
Angie Aparo - Green Into Gold
Black Lab - Dream In Color (one of my favorite songs, like, EVER)
A Perfect Circle - 3 Libras
Billy Joel - Famous Last Words
The Fray - All At Once
Ben Folds - Zak and Sara
White Stripes - Blue Orchid
Smashing Pumpkins - 1979
Guster - Either Way

Relaxing in a hotel room in downtown Phoenix...never been to this city before, but I was a huge fan from the moment I walked off the airplane. 70 degree weather in January is like the gift that keeps on giving...

Memo to MSNBC.com editors: I am not interested in Barbaro.
Another related memo to MSNBC.com editors: I will NEVER be interested in reading about Barbaro.
Another somewhat-related memo to MSNBC.com editors: There are more important news stories to report on than having a column about Barbaro's "legacy" headline your front page for the entire day. We have soldiers dying in Iraq, a red-hot political scene unfolding in Washington, and another awesome 24 episode to report about.

This is a horse. I don't want to see articles opining about the prospects of cloning Barbaro (also to be found on MSNBC.com right now) or anything else pertaining to ANY ANIMAL OF ANY TYPE LEAVING A "LEGACY" ... unbelievable.

To the reporter who actually wrote the column about Barbaro's "legacy," you just wasted hours you could've been reporting on the "legacy" of a soldier that got killed in Iraq today. Or the "legacy" of Hillary Rodham Clinton's failed campaign (oh wait, I'm a couple of years too early here) or the "legacy" of our current President ... or the "legacy" of Jessica Simpson's DirectTV commercials ("I don't know what that is, BUT I WANT IT) ... or not ...

MSNBC, you're generally pretty good about not including garbage on your front page, but not today. Maybe I should publish my own news page and write about the "legacy" of my sandwich for lunch, the "legacy" of my meeting with Qwest tomorrow morning, the "legacy" of my fairly tasty snack on Southwest airlines, the "legacy" of me ironing my shirt in preparation for tomorrow, the "legacy" of this soft bed I'm about to go to sleep on, and the "legacy" of a blog post gone horribly wrong.

Little did I know that the Prince video site I linked to in the last post would be shut down so quickly...here's another link. For those on MySpace, this may be easier to access from logging in and searching for "prince musicology tonight show" or something like that in the videos section.

Try this, for anyone else: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=1375854149

It's just too good to miss.

This week, its off to Arizona for a telecom meeting and then, toward the end of the week, heading with the iTest crew to Columbus, Georgia. Back on Sunday in time for the Super Bowl.

Quick post before heading off to bed...

I'm excited much, much more than usual about the Super Bowl halftime show, for one simple reason: Prince!

Most people don't know anything about Prince. Oh, they think they do, though: isn't he the sexual deviant that wrote "Purple Rain," oh and maybe that one other song that we heard all the time back in 1999?

Uh, no.

The only thing you need to know about Prince is that a) he's the greatest guitar player in mainstream music and b) one of the greatest songwriters alive. Oh, and let's not forget c) he has a classic, old-school thing for practicing and perfecting live performance.

I'd be really surprised if Prince doesn't perform "Musicology" as part of the halftime show, which is one of his most fun, energetic live songs he's written. If you haven't seen the video of him performing the song on the otherwise boring-as-hell Jay Leno show, watch it NOW: http://www.dailymotion.com/tag/prince+music/video/xvfwn_prince-musicology-live-at-jay-leno

Incredible performance. I mean, what can you say about this guy? He is awesome and is surrounded by all-stars on various other instruments. I love watching this video over and over again.

Yeah, usually the Super Bowl halftime show is an automatic turn of the channel ... but not this time. If you miss Prince, you'll be missing what I can guarantee will be an incredible performance by one of the best musicians alive.

Oh, and Bears 24, Colts 21, in overtime.

FORTUNE magazine has just released its 2007 list of Top 100 Employers. This list is always filled with large companies as well as smaller ones that you've never heard of, but all are deserving for the various approaches they take toward attracting and retaining talent.

#1 this year? Google.

They do some predictable things, like allow flexible working arrangements and hours. They do some unpredictable things, like have on-site oil changes and car washes, and even have 11 on-site gourmet cafeterias serving employees meals like fresh salmon, steak, etc. They offer employees $5,000 if they purchase a hybrid vehicle. They just do a lot of creative things within their HR structure.

Of course, they are extremely demanding as well. One problem with Google is a fascination (held by some top consulting firms too) with hiring only Stanford, MIT, or Harvard graduates, and even then, only those with a 3.7 GPA or above. Apparently, it was some big deal when they reduced their GPA requirement from 3.8 to 3.7 ... lol.

They will be denying themselves some top candidates as a result of this policy, but still, this minor error didn't keep them from ascending to the number 1 spot for 2007.

I believe the most important functional area of a company, in the 21st century, is human resources. And I don't think any other business unit is even close in long-term strategic importance to successful companies.

Thanks in large part to the internet, we've moved from a society where employees stayed at one company for entire careers, to one where employees stay at one company for just a few years before moving on. In response, successful HR people realize that retention is now not a reactive game, where employees who receive job offers elsewhere can then be one-upped by their current company and talked into staying, to a PROACTIVE game where companies must always be raising the bar in terms of perks, compensation, and creating a positive culture for success...or else, employees hit the road so fast that there isn't any time to react.

HR is a battle that successful companies have to win on a daily basis. Keeping star talent happy is simply what this economy requires companies to do. Whether its in a football stadium, or in a corporate boardroom, or in the Googleplex out in California, or wherever it is, talent is scarce...and its nice to see FORTUNE magazine acknowledge the companies that hit the HR home runs every year.

The vision for the iTest is to offer free, best-in-class subject tests to high school students across every major academic subject in order to augment the US educational system. If we ever hope to realize that vision, we're going to have to attract premiere talent across every subject area to help us deliver the product we're looking to create. As 2007 is the first year that the iTest is an employer of more people than just myself, I enjoy being challenged by the FORTUNE magazine's list of top employers to offer those giving up their time and energy working for the iTest the best conditions under which to perform as I possibly can.

The iTest staff will be traveling with Vestavia's math team to Columbus, Georgia, in a couple of weeks to observe a math tournament, as well as to have a "corporate retreat" to discuss goals for this year and how we're going to implement them. Additionally, we'll be discussing how best to handle the first true expansion of the iTest - the iTest CS. The iTest's computer science spinoff will go live, permanently, in the Spring of 2008 and we've got to be prepared.

Welcome to the year 2007.

Random thoughts and comments, since I don't have time to sit and write for long:

1) Titans had an excellent 2006 campaign and are the addition of a quality cornerback and defensive end away from a deep playoff run.
2) Boise State's victory over Oklahoma was unreal.
2a) Every year that Division 1-A college football fails to install a playoff system involving at least 8 teams, I will care less and less about it. This year, I haven't even watched more than one half of any game, and I don't see that changing except perhaps for the title game.
3) The Wii is a monstrous homer by Nintendo in its current battle with Sony and Microsoft, and should see some really creative software in the second wave of titles beginning this spring/summer.
4) Go see We Are Marshall.
5) Season 6 of "24" begins on January 14. I am definitely ready.
6) This may be the season I start watching The Apprentice again. YOU'RE FIRED
7) The holidays were great getting to visit family on both sides and having some time to relax as well.
8) Lori and I are contemplating buying a house here in Nashville before this time next year. That will be weird, but is an obvious next step.
9) "Continuum" by John Mayer was the best album released in 2006. Do yourself a favor and go buy it or download it.
10) 2007 predictions: the Chargers win the Super Bowl, the Mets win the World Series, and the economy will hit a snag later this year as the markets top out and the pockets of inflated housing prices collapse around the country.
11) Time to go, I'm tired.

Regardless of your thoughts on abortion - and my own are pretty negative - how can the human race ignore what fetal stem cells can mean in terms of treating and even curing some of our worst afflictions?

Stories like the one below, regardless of the outcome with this boy, get you thinking about what could be the greatest medical breakthrough of our time in fetal stem cells' potential to overcome debilitating diseases.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16159766/

No one really knows when a life begins, but we certainly know when a life ends ... good enough for me to wholeheartedly approve doing whatever it takes to help improve lives with fetal stem cells.

The Titans manhandled the Giants in the 4th quarter of last week's game to steal a victory, but its clear that the Titans are moving toward status as an elite NFL squad once again.

If you believe, like I do, that Peyton Manning simply is incapable of being clutch enough to win a Super Bowl, then its entirely possible that the Titans represent the best chance the AFC South has to win a Super Bowl over the next 5 years.

Jacksonville's got a good team, but this year has introduced a new problem to their franchise: Jack Del Rio sucks. The Jaguars are probably the most schizophrenic team in the NFL this year, going from incredible powerhouse against one opponent to pushover the next week. Matt Jones hasn't appeared healthy all year, but he strangely continues to be the focal point of the team's passing offense. David Garrard plays well, and doesn't turn the ball over, but the Jags still continue to lose close games. When you consider the additional fact that all of this represents a big step backward from the direction the team was headed prior to this year, Del Rio may be gone after this year (as well as Leftwich) and the franchise may be at another crossroad.

I don't even need to address that other AFC South franchise...you know, the one that didn't draft VY or Reggie Bush...and I refuse to dirty up my blog by even mentioning their name.

Anyone who has even half a clue about the NFL and has seen any of the Titans highlights or play over the past few weeks has seen some truly impressive stuff from both Vince Young and Pac Man Jones, the two guys who are quickly getting positioned in both the local and national media as being the dual cornerstones of the franchise. I've been telling everyone who would listen that Pac Man, for as many off-the-field problems as he's had, is undeniably one of the top 5 most explosive players in the NFL ... and possibly at the top of that list. He has literally forced Jeff Fisher to insert him into the offense to get him touches, even though this is probably the last thing that Fisher would typically do, based on watching him for years. He (Fisher) would much rather Pac be fresh for his defensive role at cornerback, but Jones is simply too big of a playmaker. Its really a pretty interesting situation that's evolved in that regard.

Vince Young, on the other hand, has already become a local sensation and has completely changed the complexion of the offense in just 8 short weeks since he's become the starter. He has almost as much impact on the Titans offense, as just a single player, as Peyton Manning does on his offense. You take out Peyton, you've got a completely different team. Same story for VY.

The scenario of Floyd Reese being asked to leave the team after the end of the season, with Fisher staying on and receiving more authority over personnel matters, has really gathered steam locally over the past week and a half. I hope this rumor turns out to be true. Jeff Fisher, much like Vince Young, simply has "it" (whatever "it" is) that enables him to elevate those around him to another level. He's simply one of the top coaches in pro football. Floyd Reese, on the other hand, is a very forgettable executive who has made as many bad decisions as good during his Titans tenure. (Neither Reese nor Fisher were responsible for the selection of VY...that would be Bud Adams, the owner, who made that call.) Fisher is a pillar of the local community and a true Nashville icon...while Reese is basically a complete unknown to anyone else except the most devoted NFL followers. Its not a difficult decision to make, given that Fisher and Reese have clashed more and more over personnel decisions this year than ever before, and it appears like one of them needs to go.

Very good day today: a major company to be named later will be the 2007 iTest's "title sponsor," meaning they will receive top billing on our various marketing materials, website, etc...effectively becoming a key partner in the continued growth of the organization.

I had an opportunity today to discuss the iTest as a capable recruiting tool for reaching the best and brightest across the country with this company's senior VP of talent management. This particular company has got a very sophisticated HR strategy - a strategy we're now a part of.

I'll name the company later, but the important part is that we've again achieved success in the fundraising arena. The iTest has taken a major step forward today.

And now, the first in what will be a hopefully infrequent series of posts that I'd like to call the GOOTUBE HALL OF SHAME:

Picard's Song

Just think about someone sitting there and creating this. If you can.

Tomorrow's Veteran's Day (or at least the corporate holiday equivalent) so I am up late, listening to music, perusing this fine internet we've got, reviewing the day's email (particularly regarding the iTest, as we inch toward closing out the contest year by December 1), and blogging.

Tomorrow, Lori and I head out to Gatlinburg to visit with a couple of college friends of ours while staying at a chalet up there. That'll be a fun diversion for the weekend before heading back on Sunday to see the Titans get back on their winning ways against a difficult Ravens team.

Check this article out. Someone in New York City has started making cubes out of GARBAGE. Yep...goes around picking up trash just right off the street, and sells cubes of it for $100 apiece. Check the part where the guy discusses the importance of packaging...obviously a critical piece of insight there. There is not one single human being on the planet unaffected by corporate marketing; not one individual who is immune from the carefully crafted messages of modern commercialism that are unescapable through the multitude of mass media channels.

Obviously, this is incredible, groundbreaking innovation to do something this radical. But often, its incremental innovation that wins, and not the earth-shattering, mind-blowing stuff like this "garbage cube" story. Think about the jump from the regular iPod to the video iPod, for example. Big step for Apple that kept profits rolling in as they began to slow. Or, at my particular current place of employment, someone had the bright idea to, all of a sudden, start including an updated number of personal vacation hours accrued on the weekly payroll stub. Sounds simple, but really wasn't...but was just the type of incremental innovative step that adds to the company's cultural fabric itself. I could go on and on with other examples.

The basic premise that incremental innovation rules the day over radical innovation, because you just can't wait for lightning to strike, extends well to our personal lives as well. We can't sit there and wait for change ... we have to force the issue where necessary. That one difficult first couple of hours you stop smoking, that unflinchingly difficult first step in the right direction, is the way out...and leads to another couple of hours, another couple of days, another couple of months, another successful story. Obviously, the smoking example could be exchanged for many other scenarios. Just like one incremental innovation in business, the medical realm, the legal realm, or anywhere else ... on top of another ... on top of another, and another, and another ... leads to a successful, best-in-class venture over the long-term.

Who are the innovators out there?

Steve Jobs. Easy one.

Barack O'bama. Any man with a book called "The Audacity of Hope" within him immediately commands my attention.

U2. Innovated so many times that I've lost count, from raising countless new guitar players on The Edge's delay-pedal signature sound to innovating the way that current bands embrace the coexistence of political causes with the realities and necessity of mass marketing.

Warren Buffett. Continues to shape the way we look at investing. A financial rock in the shifty seas of daytrading, get-rich-quick schemes, and other bad ideas.

Kay Tipton. Created a national champion caliber math team program in arguably the most difficult state to do so, Alabama, from scratch. That's innovation.

Bill Gates. Incredibly dynamic leader often mistaken for just another computer nerd, this guy rejected Harvard for a world-changing journey called Microsoft. Imagine telling your parents "no, I don't think I'm going to the best school in the country ... I think I'd rather create a computer in my garage." Right...

My dad. Suffered through the hardships of a family business, then literally started giving the money earned from the sale of the business back to the world through advocating media literacy education and very-public crusades against business practices that harm our culture. I don't know anyone who's done more for the state of Alabama than he has in just a few short years. Many innovations here that were components of the overall outcome.

Hillary Clinton. Definitely an innovator in the way she redefined the role of the first lady from bystander to activist during her husband's tenure. How quickly we forget why she got where she is ... innovation.

Peter Ross. My boss while I spent some time in Beaufort, this man took control of a ship full of holes and almost immediately began using portfolio-leading technology to get occupancy up and instill a sense of mission to the project. Unafraid to incite change and challenge established company norms, he woke me up and got my attention, as well as my respect.

Tiger Woods. This guy is simply amazing. A black man dominating a white man's game, Tiger Woods COMPLETELY rewrote the rules of an entire professional sport while turning himself into his own brand which he continues to successfully use to market anything from Accenture to his own EA video game.

Jim Bradford. Took over as Dean of Vandy's Owen Grad School of Management right as I started business school there, and successfully crafted a magazine-rank-ascending strategy of slanting the school toward the obvious strength of health care management as well as the school's finance program. An incremental innovation, to be sure, but a good one that worked and has paved the way for more innovations later on.

Vince Young. Stared down a USC team full of future NFL players and beat them nearly singlehandedly, and then joined a Titans squad where his ascension into the starting role completely and noticeably changed the entire culture of the team from a downtrodden one into an upbeat, uptempo one. In the world of the NFL, for one guy to have such a profound impact is really amazing. Definitely an innovator.

Al Gore. Held the nation's hand in being the first to successfully articulate the imminent danger of global warming to the masses. But no, didn't invent the internet (THAT joke is DEFINITELY getting too old).

Bill Frist. Changed the way we view our elected officials by becoming the first real Congressional subject matter expert in the field of modern medicine. We have so many career politicians infesting Washington DC that the introduction of a guy who's actually gone and succeeded at another field first is quite refreshing. Another example of an innovator like this would be John Edwards, as well as Arnold Schwarzanegger.

Shigeru Miyamoto. The famous creator of Mario taught the world that video games don't have to be visceral to be captivating. Mario, Zelda, Metroid, you name it, this guy invented those franchises that drove Nintendo to be the only of the big three video game groups that was profitable in FY 06, and continues to spark the inventive culture that pervades Nintendo today.

Weird Al Yankovic. Practically invented an entire genre of music himself by crafting humorous reimaginings of popular songs and gaining popularity in his own right in the process. From infusing his music with polka to his fiendishly clever wordplays that carry his creative song concepts, this guy is as big of an innovator as anyone else in music right now.

I could go on, but why? You get the idea. Innovators are true to themselves, not deviating even slightly from their strategy just because there's skepticism greeting them at every turn. Once they've made up their mind to achieve an outcome, its pretty much over.

Anyway, off to Gatlinburg. Until next time.