Traveling, but a quick note as 9/11 is much on everyone’s minds this weekend.

Denver's World Trade Center (photo: Sascha Brück)

I was in Denver when it happened. I ran the Rocky Mountain/South West region of the U.S. Commercial Service – and my office was the only Federal agency located in the Denver World Trade Center. I met an old friend and colleague that morning, Lee Boam, then the senior U.S. commercial officer in China, for breakfast in a downtown Denver hotel – where we watched the early reports on the hotel’s big screens. We crossed over to my office in the Denver WTC and tried to get a little work done. Lee was being interviewed by phone by a local radio station, but he and the interviewer were thoroughly distracted as news reports came into the station from the east coast. You could hear the consternation and concern building in the radio station. Then the towers fell.

Somebody in Washington figured that World Trade Centers anywhere could be targets and we got a phone call telling us to go home. I had already told my staff they could leave since it was clear no work would be done that day. I locked the office about 11 AM and headed for the elevators. As I left the building, a Fox News crew approached me and were delighted to find a Federal official to interview. The first question was how did I feel about seeing the twin towers come down. I told them that the Commercial Service had an office in the New York WTC and we had yet to get any reports from them. The network interviewer burst into tears and couldn’t continue. I don’t know if anything went on the air. Probably not.

We were lucky. The CS office in New York was on a low floor. Most of the trade specialists were already out on calls with area companies, and everybody else made it out.

The managers of the Denver WTC debated for a while about changing the building’s name, and decided against it. They did put in some extra security.

Honolulu doesn’t have a WTC in part because, when plans for a building were announced, insurance companies jacked up their premiums due to the name, helping make the project untenable.

Now for a different kind of Business Beyond the Reef. I have worked for a few years with a non-profit called PlanSEA.org. In fact, I’m currently the foundation’s chairman. PlanSEA’s business is to foster education about the oceans, especially about marine environmental issues on either a global or a local scale. We do this by promoting video broadcasts, mostly aimed at children, and we have achieved some modest success. There is an international angle here, too, both because of the subject matter and because PlanSEA’s videos have already been broadcast or distributed in Japan and Italy, as well as in the United States. You are likely to see more of them soon. In the meantime, check out some of the excerpts running on PlanSEA.org.

PlanSEA at work

PlanSEA’s primary vehicle is a half-hour program called My Beach Report, which features a child host telling and interviewing about sealife and ocean issues. Episodes have featured Hawaiian monk seals, marine debris, sharks, diving at Molokini (off Maui), rescuing humpback whales and much more. Shows are now regularly broadcast on the Armed Forces Network (AFN) and PlanSEA has struck a deal to begin supplying episodes to the National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA) for broadcast throughout the United States by PBS stations. Not only will My Beach Report be shown to kids, the kids are part of the production process. PlanSEA is working with schools in Hawaii, California, Virginia and Georgia to create episodes about marine issues in their local areas.

PlanSEA has also had footage distributed in Japan by CD as a “gift” to customers of a major mail-order marketing company, providing access to thousands of Japanese consumers. This was a marvelous CD of sealife in Hawaii, mostly wild dolphins, accompanied by really soothing original jazz. (Our infant grandchildren loved it. No matter what was happening, they calmed down and were riveted to the screen. I think we may have a new market here!)

PlanSEA’s shows are produced by videographer Ray Hollowell. Based in Honolulu, you have likely seen Ray’s footage on the Discovery Channel, the National Geographic channel, ESPN and other places. One of those places is Google Earth. When Google launched the Oceans levels of Google Earth, the first piece they put online was PlanSEA footage shot by Ray.

PlanSEA has opportunities for corporate sponsorships of the series, individual episodes or portions of episodes. Please get in touch with me through the comments link and I will be happy to email you a sponsorship package. or – if you would simply like to make a contribution to the PlanSEA effort – you can do that directly at PlanSEA.org. PlanSEA is a 501(c)3.

Birthplace of Vikings

I found a postcard from Norway behind my desk that provides excellent, though tongue-in-cheek, management advice. Supposedly for Vikings, but aimed at the rest of us (though I am proud of my Viking heritage!). Here, you’ll see what I mean:

Viking Laws

§1 Be Brave & Agressive

• Be direct

• Grab all opportunities

• Use varying methods of attack

• Be versatile & agile

• Attack one target at a time

• Don’t plan everything in detail

• Use top quality weapons

§2 Be Prepared

• Keep weapons in good condition

• Keep in shape

• Find good battle comrades

• Agree on important points

• Choose one chief

§3 Be A Good Merchant

• Find out what the market needs

• Don’t promise what you can’t deliver

• Don’t demand overpayment

• Arrange things so that you can return

§4 Keep The Camp In Order

• Keep things tidy & organized

• Arrange enjoyable activities that strengthen the group

• Make sure everybody does useful work

• Consult all members of the group for advice

Pretty good advice for any age or endeavor. Rotary for Vikings.