Two Couples, Two Stories. One Day.

**UPDATE*** Shuttle launch has been scrubbed for 48 hours. This happened after original post.

There are two major stories happening today involving two couples. A prince and princess, and an astronaut and congresswoman. Two extraordinary couples.

First there's the Royal Wedding of Prince William and now Princess Katherine. We knew them as William and Kate, now officially they're the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. They will be the focus of world-wide attention, especially the princess, the rest of their lives. An often ugly horde of "paparazzi" will follow "Kate's" every move as they did Prince William's mother. Let's hope for a happier ending. There's nothing like a prince, a princess and a castle to capture our imaginations. Here in America, which long ago threw off the yoke of British Monarchy, tens of millions got up well before dawn to view the nuptials. The media horde in London today is mostly comprised of Americans, and the British.

Closer to home at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, another story unfolds as Astronaut and Navy Captain Mark Kelly commands the crew of Shuttle Endeavour on its final flight before being retired from service. Most of us didn't even know who he was until earlier this year, even though he's an astronaut. Capt. Kelly is married to Arizona Representative Gabrielle "Gabby" Giffords who was gunned down by a crazed assassin this past January, shot point blank in the head. Many died in the senseless slaughter but Giffords somehow survived, her recovery amazing everyone and today she's at the Cape to watch her husband blast off to the International Space Station. The Astronaut and the Congresswoman.

Prince William, an RAF Search and Rescue helicopter pilot is officially called Flight Lt. Wales when working his "Day job." Captain Kelly is a Naval Aviator today commanding an always dangerous mission to space. Both are highly skilled, doing something only a few are qualified to do.

Princess Katherine is an educated woman, hardly a "commoner" who embarks on a new life full of public scrutiny as she joins the family business. Rep. Giffords continues her remarkable recovery, defying extraordinary odds each and every day. The best part of her future is she has a future.

It's the Royals getting the lion's share of attention today, but  to me the big story is happening here at home. Mark and Gabby, two profiles in American courage in every way.

Here's to the best of outcomes for both couples in the future.

Brian Olson
Founder/Consultant

Conversation Starters Public Relations

Solving problems that started as solutions

I'm just back from coffee with my long time friend and colleague, Mike Hanbery of Hanbery Marketing.

As a bit of a preface, you may recall seeing ads running on TV lately where there's a group of people at a conference table tasked with finding ways to save their company money. Stacked high on the table are folders, binders and piles of paper. Finally, one member of the team looks at all the paper and asks the question, "How much does all this cost?"

The point being, they could save literally millions of dollars by eliminating the piles of paper on the table. Going paperless is the solution.

But talking with Mike today, he pointed out it's creating another problem. Going paperless (plus the zillions of e-mails we all generate each day and electronically file) means increasing the load on servers, which means buying more servers, using more power to run them and of course, more techs to maintain them. Which costs....money. Money is a rare commodity these days.

The solution to one problem, is becoming a problem itself.

Mike has some interesting ideas about solving this problem which I won't share here because they're Mike's ideas and not mine. When he's ready to announce his strategy, he'll do it. That's why I posted his link above.

We're constantly going to be presented with problems and tasked with finding solutions. But solutions can ultimately become problems which require...solutions.

Solutions are what keep the doors of your business or organization open. They key is recognizing when solutions become problems.

It's what Mike does and what we do at Conversation Starters LLC.

Brian Olson
CEO and Founder
Conversation Starters, LLC