The 463: Inside Tech

463's Holiday Video: Journalism in 2020

Wait for it..... Wait for it....

And, thanks to all who joined us at 463's holiday party in DC last night. We had a great time and even managed to raise more than $3000 for the Committee to Protect Journalists.

And, last but not least, thanks to the current and former journalists who participated in our video above, including Brooks Boliek, Bara Vaida Andrew Noyes, and, wait for it... wait for it... Ms. Helen Thomas.

Could U.S. Innovation Future Rest on Health Care Passage?

 

(Jim Hock) The New York Times David Leonhardt writes a fascinating column this week making the case that passage of health care is directly tied to America's innovation and job creation future.  Think about it for a second. If potential employees are more worried about their potential health care benefits, it has a distortive effect.  The reality is that they should choose a job because of the job and whether their skills match, not because of health care.

Businesses like ours have to forecast in health care cost increases of up to 20% annually. Not  many other inputs to our bottom line have that volatility.  And have you noticed recently that health insurance premiums have been jacked up again prior to potential reform?  Let's face it -- health care is a broken market.  

We need reform for a lot of reasons, but in other countries that we are competing with, health care costs less, serves more people (and oftentimes better service).  

Mr. Leonhardt is on to something -- 1.5 million people stay in jobs they don't like or want because they are afraid to lose their benefits.  It pains us when anyone is out of a job, but just think about the efficiency gains if people could be empowered to make better choices in this tough economy. And get healthier at the same time.

Hopenhagen or Bust

(by Jim Hock) When it comes to progress on climate change and energy, we're ones to be hopeful that progress has already begun. Yes, President Obama will travel to Copenhagen to tell us what the U.S. will do to reduce emissions and that's a good thing.  But other nations are stepping up as well.   

This is a good thing for clean tech which will be the greatest economic opportunity of this century and oh by the way clean our planet.  John McCain was right during the campaign when he said no matter what you think of global warming, moving in a positive direction on energy will help create new industries and markets.  In 2007, in the early stages of his campaign for President, Senator McCain said in Gilford, New Hampshire that "I am absolutely convinced that to continue to ignore this issue (of climate change) and take no steps is going to give (these) young people a planet that is far different than today.  The overwhelming majority of scientific opinion says its real."  

Senator McCain is right. And handling our energy challenge will grow markets, grow jobs and be good for the planet.  Pretty simple stuff.  Now you see why wind farms are sprouting like crazy in China?  We have a number of great clients in Copenhagen such as Cisco's Laura Ipsen and Carbonetworks Michael Meehan, among others.  In fact, Mr. Meehan, the CEO of Carbonetworks, just wrote a few great pieces in Huffington Post and San Jose Mercury News on this issue.  Check them out.  Remember, green is good for business.

463 = 5

(From left) 463 partner Tom Galvin, 463 chairman Tim Dyson and 463 partner Jim Hock at, appropriately, a baseball game

Five years ago today, 463 Communications publicly launched (and so did this blog).

We never have been good about talking about ourselves, and there is no reason to start chest thumping now, but a few random observations...

• Mind the gap. We started 463 because we saw a great gap between Silicon Valley and Washington, DC and thought our collective experiences would serve as an effective bridge. Fortunately, we were right, and we've done quite well, thank you. However, it never ceases to amaze me how much of a gap still exists. Even living, breathing techies in the Obama Administration will tell you the same thing.

• Great work. When Tom, Jim and I started 463, we wanted to focus day-to-day on actual client work. We weren't excited about marketing, hiring a bunch of people to do the work for us or pontificating as "PR leaders." We just wanted to work with great clients at a senior level and accomplish stuff during a fascinating time. Fortunately, all of this has come to pass.

• Great team. Luckily, we have been able to hire folks over these five years who have shared our same entrepreneurial spirit and, crucially, have been able to put up with the partners. 463 is not for the faint of heart. We have folks who are at the top of their game from a PR, policy and common sense perspective and can also thrive without lots of management. They're an amazing bunch and we're stoked to have them. (Although, they really need to learn how to post to this blog more).

• Opportunity. We are of the mind that careers always need to be moving forward and opportunity should always be seized -- even if it means outside of our four walls. One of the best validators for our success is that folks who have left 463 are currently furthering their careers in high-level and important communications positions at places like Yahoo!, Juniper Networks and H-P.

• What we really do. Tech policy stuff, right? Yes and no. Tech policy communications is our core and our differentiation. But, the reality is that 463, through client demand and the virtue our collective experience, has organically evolved into a firm that provides senior communications consulting of many forms. This means lots of work creating thought leadership campaigns, reputation management efforts, executive platforms and messaging. We also help some companies take a completely fresh look at their communications programs and help them reshape a smart path forward. Personally, I love doing that.

• Thank you. Our clients are obviously essential to our health and our growth. But, we especially thank them for being great partners who can accept often tough/blunt recommendations and who are always striving to do better and create positive impact. Our friends in the media should also be thanked (those of whom that are left). We may have invited you to a few stinker press conferences, but, hopefully, these have been the rare exceptions. And, to our friends -- those in the tech policy world-- and folks like our partners at Next Fifteen, Bite Communications, OutCast Communications and Text 100, thank you all of your support, for coming to our parties and for listening to Tom and Jim tell the same damn jokes over and over again.

Right Brain Innovation

Stephanie Tackach -- We’ve been hearing a lot about innovation in the news these days with the current economic situation. However, the Consumer Electronics Association decided to put a fun spin on it by partnering with Threadless, an online community for t-shirt designers, for a contest for the Innovation Movement.
 
Designers were asked to give their interpretations of innovation in the past, present or future for a chance to win a trip to CES along with many other prizes.
 
170 designs were submitted but David Fleck of Edinburgh, Scotland, won with his “Innovation Revolution” design. Fleck will join the winner of CEA’s “Apps for Innovation” contest, which is still accepting submissions through December 14. For more details on the contest, click here.

 
See all designs here.