Silicon Valley’s Churchill Club held a sold out event last evening. About 400 people attended a packed event to listen to a  conversation between Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix and Michael Eisner, CEO of Tonante that creates original content and incubates startups. Before this Eisner was the former CEO of Walt Disney, who turned around the company and transformed it into a multi-billion dollar generating entertainment powerhouse. (BTW: Tornante funded online video company Veoh filed for bankruptcy last week.)

The very first question that Eisner asked Hastings was about the unlimited leave policy that Netflix supposedly extends to its employees. And  that question set the tone for the evening, where Eisner constantly probed, prodded and questioned Hastings about Netflix, its strategy, whether it is a content company and how it plans to work in the changing digital environment (think streaming movies).  You could immediately sense the faultlines between the two people through the sub-text of the conversation. It seemed like Eisner was trying to understand the startup and innovative culture of Silicon Valley, and what makes Silicon Valley companies different. It does not seem like Eisner is a big fan of free massages/flex hours and options. But that is what people tend to focus and not on the long, interminable work hours, the broken promises to your family to attend a birthday party or your child’s first show that is so common in Silicon Valley. Those long hours, those broken promises are the unspoken parts of what goes behind the success of Silicon Valley companies. But how do you bottle the essence of Silicon Valley culture and help folks understand the power of ideas and dreams?  As an observer to the conversation between Hastings and Eisner you could  spot the difference between Northern (Silicon Valley) and Southern (Hollywood) culture and the difference between old  and new media world. I don’t think  Eisner would be very flattered to be referred to as a member of the old media since his current company creates content for the online world.

I digressed. Back to the conversation between two very different CEOs and their views on how content should be served to the audience.

Hastings talked about the culture at Netflix, which in many ways is a reflection of a unique work culture that exists in the valley. He defined Netflix as “a specialist firm” that has adapted itself to changing business scenarios and went from renting DVDs to streaming content online. Netflix started by renting out DVDs in the 1990s and currently has about 12 million members in the USA.

Eisner was curious to know about Netflix’s strategy for streaming content, and pointed out to Hastings that “unless you get the rights for the first run of the films” for streaming it might be difficult to break into Hollywood. Hastings replied that Netflix’s  strategy is to stream and pay big checks to the companies. Hastings believes that the new model for viewing content will be click and view and that is what they are focused on working. He was also quick to point out that their DVD mailing business continues to grow simultaneously.

Do you change strategy as you grow asked Eisner?  Hastings responded that innovation is key to their strategy and pointed out that companies in Silicon Valley fail when they stop innovating (he offered Sun Microsystems as an example). Which is when Eisner shared his experience of Disney’s acquisition of InfoSeek, and how that acquisition did not work out for them. “InfoSeek was McKinsey’s fault,” said Eisner, who clearly stated that he is not a big believer in acquiring companies.

Throughout the conversation at various points Eisner kept going back to how Netflix was going to acquire original content besides Hollywood movies. At one point he told Hastings that Netflix has made a better mousetrap and then quickly tagged on a question about content. At the end of the conversation Eisner made this pronouncement: “My take is you are way too close to content than you are admitting.” And added that Netflix is right now in the licensing business but “you are totally in the environment of content.”

Listening to the exchange between Eisner and Hastings it was interesting to get a feel for the kind of conversations that might be taking placed behind the closed doors of many, many companies in Hollywood, Netflix, HBO, NBC, Hulu, Amazon and others as they struggle to figure out what is the right model/strategy for serving content online. These are early days and nobody has the right answer on how to tap into this growing opportunity. Eisner was right in emphasizing in creating quality content, and Hastings was right in saying Netflix will pay big checks to stream content. But do either of them have the answer to this question: What does the audience really want?

What I tried to say in my post was brilliantly captured in less than 140 characters by @Wildgw #churchill club event…reed hastings and michael eisner was like two 747s passing in the sky… many great points… different plans……

It came as a shock to hear that Nirmal Pandey passed away earlier today. He apparently suffered from a heart attack earlier this evening in India and lost his life.

A talented actor and an alum of India’s National School of Drama, Pandey made his mark in theatre before migrating to the silver screen. It was in the mid-1990s that Pandey made his mark in Shekar Kapur’s Bandit Queen (1994) based on the life of Phoolan Devii, a well-known dacoit, who later became a politician. Two years later in 1996 he once again made his mark as a transvestite in  Amol Palekar’s Daayara (1996). But like many talented actors Pandey was typecast and mostly acted as the “bad guy” in a handful of Bollywood films and was reportedly tired of being slotted as the bad guy. Who can blame him? Perhaps that might explain why he may have become selective and turned down offers to play such roles. We will never know the answer to that question since there are barely any lengthy interviews or Q&A of Pandey. Even though he acted in a handful of films, his powerful presence on the silver screen left an indelible impression on many people.

Pandey’s last film to open in theatres was Kedi a Telugu movie starring Nagarjuna. Next month his new Bollywood film Lahore is slated for release.

Besides acting, Pandey was also a singer who released  a couple of albums. Who knew that the opening line from his song applied to his fans when he said “Maar dala, pehle naazar pe maar dala.” It was Pandey, who had us mesmerized from the first time he appeared on the stage, silver screen or the TV set.

Our heartfelt condolence to his wife and family.

Thanks Pandey jyu (juu is the Kumaoni term for “ji”) for entertaining us.

This is an excellent  2-part interview of Kabir Bedi by Riz Khan that is definitely worth watching.

There are very few actors like Kabir Bedi in Indian cinema. Bedi has all the trappings of a polished  film star. He has the dashing looks, the deep baritone voice and the elegance. As if that were not sufficient, he is a polyglot, who can effortlessly switch from English to Hindi to Urdu to Italian. And the icing on the cake  is the respect and courtesy he shows to others during his interactions, which I bet scores a lot of brownie points for him.

Bedi began his  career in Indian theatre and Hindi films in the early 1970s. He was one of the early Indian actors, who crossed over to International cinema and TV, much before other Bollywood and other Indian actors did. He acted in a series of English films, including the James Bond movie Octopusy. But it is in Italy where that Bedi made his mark with Sandokan, a popular TV series, where he played the title role.

Bedi has also acted in a string of American TV dramas and soap operas including The Bold and the Beautiful, General Hospital and One Life to Live.

An under-appreciated actor, just imagine if Bedi had started his career during the Internet era. Imagine the access he would have had to social media tools like  Facebook and Twitter and the kind of virtual fame he would have achieved.  He has a Facebook account. Wonder if Bedi is thinking of jumping into the Twitter bandwagon. I bet his tweets would be far more interesting than some of the prosaic and non-interactive tweets from some of the stars, who make their home in Mumbai.

(Note: The title for the post was inspired by the Hollywood film ”There is Something About Mary.” I was trying to come up with a catchy headline for the post.)

There he is. Popping up once again at another winter Olympics - the lone Indian representative for luge at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada. This is the fourth time that Shiva “the destroyer” is representing India at the winter Olympics, and this time apparently has a good chance  of finishing strong.What is really sad to read is the local Indian-Canadian community in Vancouver pitched in to help the 3-member Indian Olympic team to get their uniforms. It is kind of sad and a telling comment that in a nation of over a billion people Shiva Keshavan continues to struggle to raise money to participate in the winter Olympics. Yes, he did receive some financial assistance from the Indian government last year and a group of lawyers this year but that is not sufficient. He needs more financial assistance?I wrote about Shiva 12 years ago, when I first discovered he was the lone Indian participant at the Nagano Olympic Games. Not only was he the lone rep from India, but he was also the youngest person to compete in luge. I was intrigued to put it mildly. Luge and an Indian, how could that be? This is a statistical outlier I thought. How did he ever get into this game? What prompted him? How does he continue to practice? Had Shiva heard of the Jamaican bobsledding team during the Calgary Olympic event? There were zillions of questions that went through my mind. (Melvin Durai captures his disbelief when he first heard of Shiva. Read about it here.)From what I can gather this is how Shiva’s interest in luge started. Fourteen years ago, the International Luge Federation (ILF) went looking for luge participants from tropical places, and a couple of these invitations found their way into Shiva’s school -Lawrence Schooll at Sanawar in Himachal Pradesh. Yeah, this is the alma mater of Bollywood actor Sanjay (or is it Sunjay Dutt?), and Air Marshall KC Cariapa. Shiva and his brother participated in a two-week luge camp that the ILF organized in India around this time.When the camp finished, Shiva was firmly hooked to his wooden and fiberglass luge board. There was no looking back and within a couple of years he was at Nagano, where he finished 28th out of 34 contestants. He went on to participate at the Salt Lake Winter Olympics, followed by Turn in 2006 and now at Vancouver, Canada. Shiva finished 25th at Turin.Training and participating at international sports events has not been a smooth ride for Shiva. To purse his dreams of hurtling down the icy luge tracks he has had to struggle to find sponsors and funds to participate at various events.  India is still a pretty much one-sport country: cricket as Shiva pointed out in a recent interview. Is Bollywood listening? Here is a good storyline and maybe someone can make a movie and create awareness.Maybe someone from Bollywood can help raise money for him?Hats off to Shiva for showing persistence and dedication in pursuing his love for the sport. Shiva deserves a big round of applause for pursuing his dreams, and for being one among a billion. I wish we had more Shivas in the world who dare to dream, and work towards making their dream a reality.Related Link: Shiva on facebook.

Ideas and inspirations transcend physical and geographical boundaries as history has shown us time and again. While most of us recognize the power of ideas, it still comes as a pleasant surprise when you  actually see and hear people talk about who inspired them like this short video clip of Martin Luther King where he talks about how he  first heard of Mahatma Gandhi.

“While the Montgomery boycott was going on, India’s Gandhi was the guiding light of our technique of non-violent social change. We spoke of him often,” wrote King. Although King never got to meet Gandhi, he went on a month long trip to India in 1959. He wrote an article on his India trip, which is definitely worth a read.

But, I wonder if King knew of his influence on young Indians? His powerful oratorical skills with that unmistakable rich cadence and rhythm is (was) familiar to many young Indian school and college kids. At least it was when I was growing up in India. Take a listen to this last speech King gave in 1968 before he was assassinated.

Steve Jobs clearly recognizes the power of storytelling.

A consummate marketer Jobs known the art of storytelling, and this Stanford Commencement address is a great example. “I have 3 stories to share,” he says in his introduction. The 3 stories seem to map to birth, life/love and death. The cycle of life. Jobs apparently subscribes to Buddhist teachings and perhaps that informed his storytelling?

In the commencement speech he talks about his birth, adoption, attempts to study in college (thanks Hare Krishna temple for the free food), getting fired from Apple and fighting cancer. Note how he uses simple words to get his point across.

Here is what resonated with me, and I am sure if you listened to the speech you will find these to resonate with you too.

“You have got to find what you love.”

“None of this would have happened if I had been fired from Apple.”

“The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you have not found yet, keep looking…Keep looking, don’t settle.”

And finally here is the punch line: Stay hungry, and stay foolish.

Great advice, a bit difficult to follow, but good points to hang on to when you are going through a rough patch.

“Don’t let other opinion to drown out your inner voice.”

So, I am staying hungry, and staying foolish and listening to my inner voice and continue to explore and find those stories that remain untold. These are stories of inspiration, motivation, and of how someone got started, who influenced them and why they do what they do. My goal is to tell stories with a context or to use an oft-repeated marketing term: 360 view of the person. It is hard, it is challenging, but I love it. I know creating long content pieces is not fashionable or “the thing” to do, but I also know that a good, absorbing conversation always resonates with people. Thanks for listening and for your support.