Belated Thanksgiving Thoughts

My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is the process of actually giving thanks---saying out loud (or putting into writing) all those positive, affirming ideas that, most of the time, we mentally dismiss as too cheesy to actually vocalize. Thanksgiving is the one day each year where cheesy is forgiven, in my book. On this one single November holiday, you're allowed to be your own personal Pollyanna. You can thank your parents for having you, your brother for not killing you that time you stole his most prized G.I. Joe, your boss for not holding it against you that you're not the most photogenic person to do video interviews, your friends for willingly braving zombie movies with you.

I already gave those personal thanks last week, but I just realized today that there are thanks to be given within our industry as well. So, here and now, I propose the ten smart grid items to be thankful for this year.

10. Improved technology. We really haven't done much in a couple of generations with our industry gadgets. The one thing the smart grid has kick-started is tech features---from more efficient switchgear to VAR compensators to in-home displays.

9. More research. All this smart grid chatter has loosened coffers for research and development where once you opened the R&D wallet and moths flew out, dust kicked up, and there was no money to be had.

8. More chatter. Speaking of chatter, there is a lot of it. Even my mother knows about the smart grid, perhaps not to an industry level. But, I'm amazed she knows anything at all. It can't all be from me. It must come from an outside source.

7. Media blitzing. A favorite outside source of all mothers is the media. In this case, I'm referring to tech and insider magazines. Traditionally, the heavy words of the power industry were often reserved for the generation side. These days, however, the grid is the word. Even our generation sister magazines in-house are talking smart grid.

6. Mainstream media blitzing. OK. My mother didn't get her info from an industry magazine or from me. She probably got it from Charles Gibson. She loves her some Charlie. But, isn't it amazing that Charlie is talking about the smart grid?

5. President Obama. Let's face it: Obama's focus on renewables and efficiency has certainly helped the smart grid cause. And the cash didn't hurt, either.

4. More money. Not just from Obama, but also from investors who now see a future in an industry once thought of as about as progressive as aglets (the plastic ends of shoelaces that haven't changed form in more years than my grandmother's been alive).

3. Less money. We have to take a moment, though, to realize that this influx of cash is, at least partially, due to many, many years of no cash. There would be no current boom without the previous bust.

2. The art of selling. We took an industry with a lot of different acronyms and names and words and hard to follow concepts, and we've finally done the brilliant act of marketing: We've dumbed it down. And, yes, that's a good thing. After all, you can't understand Calculus without a concept of simple addition. For years, we've tried to sell the consumer Calculus. And, they've been thoroughly puzzled. And we've been puzzled about why they were so uninterested. Simplicity is key. We should have listened to Thoreau years ago. (He kept telling us to simplify.)

1. The perfect name. In the end, perhaps we should give all of this credit to the ultimate simplification: an easy-to-understand, easy-to-market name. Names have made a lot of people and a lot of products appear so much better. (John Wayne was born Marion Mitchell Morrison, and thank goodness he changed that, for example.) That simple name, "the smart grid," may, in the end, be responsible for rescuing this industry from obscurity, just as Wayne's name change may well have cemented his place as a film icon. After all, how many male movie stars called Marion can you name?