Hasta La Gadget!

After talking with Eric Thomas, whose motivational speeches have been viewed on YouTube by 50+ million people, I realized one thing: He isn’t just a motivational speaker. Try putting a man who is a best-selling author, a community activist, a Ph.D. student, and minister in one box and you would be missing the breadth of his accomplishments.

We spoke about his latest venture, which may surprise you even more if you thought he was only a motivational speaker as well. He’s now the founder and owner of a record label and his debut artist Tobe Nwigwe has been met with palpable fanfare. “We didn’t want to just be the face of motivation in terms of my presentations on YouTube. We want to make sure that in every form of motivation we had a presence.” Tobe, who has developed a collaborative partnership with Eric in recent years, is certainly making ETA Records‘ presence known.

In less than three weeks, his two-part video has amassed more than 70,000 views and a flurry of encouraging messages in the often-critical YouTube comments. I noticed a parallel to Eric when talking with Tobe. As Eric isn’t just motivational speaker, Tobe isn’t just a rapper. His eight-song EP, which he mentioned garnered 5,000 downloads in the first few days, is the artistic manifestation of what he has been spreading in his community’s youth for years.

“Edu-tainment,” a combination of education and entertainment as you might have deduced, is a phrase that both Eric and Tobe subscribe to and have begun to master. While Eric is based in Detroit and Tobe is based in Houston, they realize adolescents in their respective communities are more responsive to adult advice when it fits into their existing behaviors. So Tobe for instance, wants kids to live with a sense of purpose and the subtle way he is sharing that message is through melodic hooks and lyrical wordplay that most high school students would turn up, as soon as their parents bought them a pair popular Beats headphones.

Tobe doesn’t just talk the talk with music. He’s also known as the go-to guy when it comes to mobilizing Houston’s youth to make a positive impact in the community. As the co-founder and head of a burgeoning nonprofit organization, TeamGini, he and his team have an organizational mission to “make purpose popular.”

An appropriate example of this concept is how he led the charge in gathering Drake fans to volunteer four hours of their time in order to earn a ticket to see the Grammy-winning rapper perform live for a private show. As facilitated by another nonprofit called RockCorps, 1,000 volunteers either distributed food to 2,000 lower-income residents, cleaned up a littered trail, or tended to a community garden. 4,000 volunteer hours later, many of Houston’s youth realized that giving back to their city may have been just as rewarding as the performance itself. Tobe, who was caught in action on the left, intends to create a movement on this very feeling with his style of music.

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It’s interesting to know how Eric and Tobe initially connected. Tobe said, “I was crazy enough to call the number that was scrolling across the screen,” when he watched one of Eric’s first viral videos. After professing his enthusiasm about Eric’s message to the woman who answered the phone, he ended the called satisfied that he at least made the attempt to share his passion. An hour later, he received a call from Eric himself and was met with the same, if not more enthusiasm from the man who never seems to run out of energy. “You sound like a young me. You sound like me and my guy when we first started,” Tobe remembers Eric saying. Since that pivotal conversation, they kept in touch and combined their efforts when opportunities arose.

The two are equally motivated to inspire and enrich the lives of their younger counterparts. “So many people say that this is a ‘hopeless generation.’ I’ve seen a different experience,” Eric noted. “Every post I get, every video they send me, every letter I get in the mail, every tweet, ever text inspires me to say, they’re getting it. They do want to succeed. And many of them just don’t have an example. I can be that example.”

Eric and Tobe spend most of their efforts with urban, underprivileged demographics. The pair have seen behavioral trends and have stepped up to the challenge in reaching them. Often times, “this is a generation that would rather be entertained than enlightened. It’s necessary to be plugged into social media,” Tobe said to support his notion to make positive music that is also culturally relevant. Eric added that television was the main medium in his formative years and he often watched shows like “The Cosby Show” and “A Different World” that provided the edu-tainment mentioned earlier. Eric knows that social media is a natural experience his for intended demographic, so he has developed engaging content online and downloadable audio tracks that can motivate them on their mobile devices.

Though the men have endured very different paths, they are similarly intentional about the legacy they want to create. Eric suffered through homelessness, dropping out of high school, and a host of other tribulations before finding his calling, partly due to the words of past and present civil rights leaders. Their philosophies toward self-actualization is a major reason why his ultimate goal is to extend his impact on a global scale and one day be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his contributions to society. Along the same lines, Tobe stated that he wants “to see a generation live up to the full potential of their life. I want to help be a part of that.” He intends to make his mark with what he called “life music” and hopefully be awarded with a Grammy of his own one day.

Who knows your business as well (if not better) than you do? The people who work in your business, of course! And I’m not talking about a sales staff. I’m talking about your nuts-and-bolts employees who know the everyday ins and outs, whether they work with your customers, handle inventory or do the behind-the-scenes work that helps run your company. In today’s socially-connected world, employees are often an untapped resource that (with a little guidance) could exponentially expand your company’s word-of-mouth reach. Empower them so they can power your business.

Your employees can use these four social platforms to help spread the word about your company:

1. LinkedIn

Especially if your company is B2B, have a company profile on LinkedIn, and encourage all employees to have personal profiles that link them to your company. Each person has talents and skills they contribute to your business that could be highlighted with your company’s keywords in each employee’s summary and experience areas. LinkedIn Recommendations can also increase your company’s visibility in the channel.

Ask employees to join groups where they can share their insights and answer questions.

2. Facebook

If you have a business page on Facebook, have employees link to it in the “About” section of their profiles. Also, set up a private group where your employees can collaborate. Seek out groups that fit your company niche and encourage employees to join; not to SPAM others with your messaging, but to find ways to contribute, answer questions, share expertise, etc.

3. Twitter

Twitter is a great place to provide an extra level of customer service that goes beyond your own company brand on Twitter. People-to-people interaction gives your brand a more human touch. Each person can actively “listen” for company mentions, questions and conversation around keywords and jump into the conversation where appropriate — even if it’s just to thank someone for mentioning or Retweeting your brand. Encourage employees to share Tweets around your company’s activities and content. Come up with a company hashtag or a series of hashtags (e.g. #companyname, #companyevent) and pre-craft Tweets to make it easy. They can just cut and paste to share on their Twitter feed.

4. Instagram

Even if you don’t have a photogenic product, your employees with smartphones can still spread positive messaging about your company with Instagram. From photos of the lunchroom, to customer gatherings to company events, there are many ways your employees can pull in prospects with images.

Hashtags can now be used and tracked on all four of these platforms.

A little encouragement goes a long way!

Set some formal guidelines, keeping in mind that if you clamp down too hard, employees may back away from participating. Offer in-house social training, led by your best in-house and local experts. Provide incentive programs to reward the employees who provide the most relevant ideas and responses.

Remember that your employees are your company’s best resource–make the most of their passion and individuality. They’re already social, so start thinking of how you can empower your employees to have their own voice, and you will discover many can and will become your company’s most active and valuable social advocates.

Fighter pilots have access to helmets with amazing abilities. However, they still have to strap on heavy night vision goggles to fly in the dark — an all too literal pain in the neck. Much to aircrews’ relief, BAE Systems wants to make that clunky…

The greatest challenge facing Israel in its current battle against Hamas is the world’s absurd moral equivalence between a righteous democracy trying to protect its citizens from indiscriminate rocket fire and a genocidal terror organization committed to murdering Jews and destroying the State of Israel.

Last week I published a column criticizing the Obama Administration for its calls for mutual restraint on the part of both parties, as if Israel and Hamas can in any way be compared. I received criticism and pushback from personal friends who work in the Administration saying I was misrepresenting what the Obama Administration had said about the conflict.

But here are the facts, assembled from personal research as well as non-partisan position papers on the conflict that were expertly produced by AIPAC.

It begins with President Obama himself taking the highly unusual step on July 8th of publishing an op-ed in Haaretz days before their peace conference where he said, “…at this dangerous moment, all parties must protect the innocent and act with reasonableness and restraint, not vengeance and retribution.” That is a curious thing for the leader of the free world to say about a terrorist organization.

Reasonableness and restraint? Hamas’ charter calls for the murder of Jews wherever they are found, including the United States. Would the President call for reasonableness and restraint on the part of Al Qaida? Absolutely not. He’s blowing them to bits with drone strikes in Pakistan in order to protect innocent American life, which is his job as President.

The President continued in the op-ed, “…All parties must exercise restraint and work together to maintain stability on the ground.” Respectfully, this is absurd. The President is showing no restraint against Al Qaida and Prime Minister Netanyahu should likewise employ every means to eliminate Hamas’ capacity to murder innocent men, women, and children.

On the very same day that the President’s op-ed appeared, State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki said at the daily briefing,

“…We’re conveying through diplomatic channels the importance to both sides of acting responsibly and with restraint.” Here again we hear the “both sides” which inevitably brings moral comparisons between Hamas and Israel.

But this has been par for the course for Psaki, formerly President Obama’s spokesperson, who said a day earlier of John Kerry, “…the Secretary, of course, urged Prime Minister Netanyahu — as he’s urged both parties – to exercise restraint and avoid steps that could further destabilize the situation.”

A week later, on July 14th, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest echoed the “both sides” sentiment, yet again, with his comment: “We have articulated our concern about the casualties that have been sustained on both sides over the last several weeks. Our — our — we have concern about the casualties sustained by — the casualties sustained by civilians on the Palestinian side as well. That’s why we’re encouraging both sides to exhibit as much restraint as possible, but we do that with the full knowledge that it is completely unacceptable for rockets to continue to be fired from Palestinian territory aimed squarely at Israeli civilians.”

The latter part of the comment is helpful, but it doesn’t excuse the former. No one wants to see innocent Palestinians in Gaza harmed by Israeli action. We are Jews and our Bible is clear: every human being is created equally in the image of God. Jewish life and Arab life is equal. But there is a clear difference between casualties sustained by innocent Palestinians who are unwittingly made into human shields by Hamas verses Hamas targeting Israelis for murder.

No one would have said to Franklin Roosevelt or Winston Churchill that there was any kind of moral equivalence between the suffering of the German and Japanese populations in Berlin and Tokyo after American and British bombing raids which were in response to Germany and Japan launchings wars of annihilation against innocent neighbors.

Earlier on July 11th, the White House Press Secretary had also echoed the “mutual restraint” theme. “What we are urging is we’re urging some restraint. We’re urging a strong consideration of the well-being of innocent civilians on both sides. And we’re offering the assistance of the United States to try to facilitate a ceasefire that we believe is in the best interests of both sides. And that is why we have called repeatedly on Hamas to end that rocket fire and we will continue to encourage Israelis at the same time, while respecting their right to defend their country and their civilians, we urge them to exhibit some concern for the lives of civilians as well.”

Israel always exhibits concern for the lives of civilians, which is why Hamas is allowed to operate at all, failing which Israel would have carpet-bombed Gaza, something unthinkable to a Jewish State with a moral conscience.

But Press Secretary Earnest seems incapable of moving fully away from the mutual responsibility theme, even as he speaks of Israel’s right to defend itself. On July 8th Earnest said, “It is not in the interest of either side for this violence to continue and even to escalate, so we are hopeful that even as Israel exercises their right to self-defense, that they’ll leave open a channel for diplomacy to prevail and for a cease-fire or at least a de-escalation in the violence to commence. Suffice it to say we’re going to continue to urge both sides to take maximum restraint when it comes to the well-being of innocent civilians. And the easiest way to do that would be to broker a cease-fire from both sides.”

It is absolutely in the interest of Israel to destroy Hamas’ capacity to make war and murder non-combatants, a position that the Obama Administration should be supporting Israel in accomplishing just at the United States is continuing to do against Al Qaida.

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach is the international best-selling author of 30 books, most recently “Kosher Lust,” and Founder of This World: The Values Network, the world’s leading organization promoting universal Jewish values. Follow him on Twitter @RabbiShmuley.

My mom always loved gardening, but rarely had time for it in our two-career household. In her retirement to West Texas, though, she’s taken to it with a passion. She posts photos of her recent yields, be they impressive or pathetic. Today, she shared a photo that speaks volumes in metaphor.

Her caption which got plenty of smiles and amused comments, read, “This is what happens when you don’t know which side of the fence you’re on.”

The question, as the resident postmodern theology nerd in the family, is, “So is this a good thing or a bad thing? Is this a problem to be fixed, or is it an opportunity?”

On first blush, it seems that the squash is in bad shape. It’s stuck. It’s the old “fence-sitters get it in the nuts” illustration. A cautionary tale. And yeah, the squash definitely doesn’t look “normal.”

But who put the fence there? is it to support the growth of the plants, or to keep them separate? What happens if the squash breaks the fence? certainly the makeup of the garden will change, but is that necessarily bad?

And let’s say, for the sake of argument, that the squash gets broken in half eventually by the fence. In the short view, this would be justice for the uppity squash who didn’t know its place. But what if it had a vision beyond its own squashy existence? What if, in being broken open by the fence, it would spread seeds on all sides, creating a new opportunity for life in ways not possible before? Maybe it’s a Jesus squash?

And also, it’s easy to put all of our attention on the squash, but what about the fence? Isn’t it being changed too? By taking this new path, and with it, taking on some tough growth, the convergence of the squash and the fence are creating something new, at least in the existential sense. Where does the squash end and the fence begin as they converge?

Finally, just because there’s a fence doesn’t necessarily mean there should be. Maybe it served its purpose, but that purpose has since past. Maybe we’re so used to having the fence there that we just maintain it ‘because it’s what we always do.” Maybe the person who built the fence knew it was a mistake as soon as they built it, but they were too busy, distracted or even embarrassed to take it down.

I’m no lover of fences, of the limitations, boundaries and delineations they represent. Yes, sometimes they’re necessary. In some ways, such boundaries actually afford us the confidence and safety to stretch ourselves, to go farther than we would have without any sense of place, of where the unknown begins.

But the modern era is marked by a tendency to worship such fences, such rules, institutions, doctrines and traditions, simply because they already exist. And oftentimes, the very things w’e are preserving are products of those with privilege and power, so in sustaining, or even not actively challenging, such systems, we’re actually contributing to the holding-back of those with less of a voice.

Yes, I know, only I would look at a picture of a goofy squash and think such things. This is part of why I didn’t go on too many dates in high school, I guess. Maybe I think too much.

But in case you’re wondering, I’m rooting for the squash.