The Long Tail

June 26, 2007

Bad news: we're flooded. Good news: I won a Loeb

I'm staying a farmhouse in the middle of England for a family reunion and, as luck would have it, it's the wettest June in recorded British history, with widespread flooding and unseasonable cold. A nearby town is underwater and they're helicoptering people off roofs. Our tennis is really suffering.

A ray of sunshine was just what we needed, and fortunately that appeared this morning in my inbox. I won the Loeb Award for the Best Business Book of the Year!

If you know anything about the Loeb you'll know why I'm thrilled:

"Celebrating their 50th anniversary, the Loeb Awards are the highest honors in business journalism. They were established in 1957 by Gerald Loeb, a founding partner of E.F. Hutton, to encourage quality reporting in the areas of business, finance and the economy in order to inform and protect private investors and the general public. Presented by UCLA Anderson School of Management since 1973, the awards recognize writers, editors and producers of both print and broadcast media for the significant contributions they make in this field."

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Comments

Congratulations! More than well deserved!

Posted by: Eduard Blacquière | June 26, 2007 at 04:54 AM

Congratulations! Looks like in terms of awards, you're hitting the head of the tail!

Posted by: John Graff | June 26, 2007 at 06:13 AM

Chris,

I loved your work in The Long Tail. However, I'm going to discontinue my rss feed of your blog. Each time it comes through you seem to consistently point out an award you have won. Thanks for your work and commitment to what you are passionate about but the constant pat on the back just doesn't do it for me.

Posted by: Scott | June 26, 2007 at 07:43 AM

Ouch! Scott telling it like he sees it! I must disagree though: the clear objective of this blog is to publicize the Long Tail Syndrome/Phenonenon/Contagion, and by pointing out accolades, it lends even more credibility to and gets more exposure for it [as more organizations see the shout outs that Chris gives them for winning, more may present awards in expectation/anticipation of their very own additional exposure in the self-reinforcing process of big boys stroking other big boys), and will eventually transform it into an even more powerful influencer or hub or some other term from Network Effect Theory, which is kind of the opposite of Long Tail Effect. Word.

Posted by: worth | June 26, 2007 at 08:14 AM

Way to go, Chris!

Sorry for the weather inconveniences :(

Hope we could see you soon in Spain (sunny weather all year round)

Posted by: Octavio Isaac Rojas Orduña | June 26, 2007 at 09:20 AM

ahhh, the lovely English weather. Going during the time of Glastonbury and Wimbledon, what do you expect. The only thing that could be worse is a Bank Holiday! But wait, you're American and you have one next week - maybe you got the weather early???

Seriously, it looks pretty bad. Luckily, my family are out of the way, just getting pelted with rain.

Congratulations on the award

Posted by: RachelC | June 26, 2007 at 01:52 PM

Sorry about the weather, Chris. At least you'll go home feeling damp and dejected in true British fashion, and be less inclined to be happy about winning things for a while. The cheek!

I live in Lewes in East Sussex. We're fine at the moment, but live on the permanent frontline for flooding caused by climate change, and short sighted road and town planning.

Floods in October 2000 almost ruined the town's economy, but we have since recovered.

A lot of the areas that have been hit across the UK in this severe weather are used to it, but not in the summer. In a densely populated country, increased floods caused by climate change and poor town and transport planning are going to become more frequent, and will have deeper economic impacts. Quite rightly, the focus for now is on the risk to human life, but there are also long term economic and cultural impacts of increased flood risk that - in Lewes - we are acutely aware of.

There is a direct link back to your theories... in smaller, older towns and cities in the UK, a lot of artisan and older industries tend to be by rivers (because they needed the water for power, transport, as part of the industrial process etc.) Many of these businesses have as much economic value to their communities as cultural industries - drawing tourists - as they do from their products.

With insurance premiums rising, many smaller and historic businesses can't recover from a flood. This leaves the way open for franchises and developers to muscle in and amplifies our equivalent of urban sprawl... that is more like commuter sprawl. Creeping homogenisation of the high streets of small towns adjacent to large cities, and a proliferation of jeeps... Paradoxically, this can rip out the heart and soul of a town or community, the unique character that drew new people to an area in the first place.

This is a live issue in my town. Plans for a large, mostly undeveloped industrial zone by the river to be developed are causing very heated debate about how an influx of new people will affect Lewes's character, and undermine our woefully inadequate flood defences:

http://www.lewesmatters.co.uk/blogcategory/

The answer, to me, seems to be to welcome new people to a town that can accommodate the new and the old, maintaining continuity. We like our huge 24 hour Tesco but we also like our health food shops and bespoke glove makers: http://www.lewesartisans.com/alinks.php

There are some obvious synergies, to my mind, between your ideas and the transition town movement here: http://transitiontowns.org/Lewes/Lewes

The essential question for me is this: if we are going to travel less - or at least travel smarter - for leisure and inspiration, what are we going to do with our time at home?

I think the need is for local economies to be consciously planned, in a way that makes them resilient enough to sustain unique, personal, eccentric, small-scale, specialised industries - jewellers, boat builders, model makers for architects - as well as larger, monolithic ones (like Tesco.)

The New Economics Foundation have done some thinking along these lines, and are pushing for Sustainable Communities legislation.

http://www.neweconomics.org/gen/local_works_top.aspx?page=843&folder=137&

http://www.localworks.org/?q=node/4

How do we avoid the terrifying dystopia of Tesco one day growing so powerful it must invade Denmark for full market saturation, in other words?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfSi0D7KESk

(Warning: Contains one profane word.)

-tim

Posted by: Tim | June 27, 2007 at 04:46 AM

Tim,

Many thanks for the fascinating comment. I'm all for preserving towns exactly as you say. The only thing I'd add is the importance of proper broadband and wireless access in rural areas, both of which are sadly spotty here near Stowe, where I am.

Chris

Posted by: Chris Anderson | June 27, 2007 at 11:10 AM

congratz buddy

Posted by: Rene | June 28, 2007 at 07:41 AM