Monthly Archive for May, 2006

Thoughts on Entropy, Voltage and Learning

Published
by
Raymond Salzwedel
on May 11, 2006
in Articles, General and Organisational Design
. 0 Comments

Introduction

Some people think that there are patterns in existence that can be re-used between various disciplines like Physics, Religion and Business. This article explores the similarity of thought between several domains and tries to see how understanding in one area can help understanding in other areas.

Entropy in Physics

In physics, the concept of Entropy can have the following meanings: the degree of chaos, or disorder, in a system; or the amount of useable energy in a system. All physical systems tend towards states of least order, or maximum chaos. That is why eggs break, but can never spontaneously un-break, and why when a glass of water spills, it runs into a flat puddle and does not sit on the floor in a glass-shaped globule.

Continue reading ‘Thoughts on Entropy, Voltage and Learning’

Talent management is now a job for the CEO

Published
by
Graeme Codrington
on May 9, 2006
in Leadership and Talent - Bright Young Things
. 0 Comments

The Economist Intelligence Unit (the research arm of the Economist.com) has a short report on how important talented people have become to business.

Talent management now features prominently on the CEO’s agenda, according to a white paper by the Economist Intelligence Unit, in co-operation with Development Dimensions International (DDI), a global human resources consulting firm. Once only of concern to human resources (HR) departments, it is now among CEOs’ most pressing responsibilities, taking more than 20% of their time. The overall view is summed up by Tom Wilson of US insurance giant Allstate Corp.: “The most important thing I have to worry about is people.”

Read the report here.
Continue reading ‘Talent management is now a job for the CEO’

You were part of history

Published
by
Barrie Bramley
on May 4, 2006
in General
. 1 Comment

While you were sleeping in the early hours of this morning an event that only happens every one thousand years happened. And while you probably weren’t aware of it, you were there.

A little after midnight the time and date stamp was: 01:02:03 04/05/06

Kewl. It’s not going to happen till 3006. But you you were there!

The five greatest lies in Business!

Published
by
Barry Brady
on May 4, 2006
in General
. 0 Comments

This is a great article from Fast Company. How many times have you heard “people are our greatest asset” when in fact management has no idea of what that means, evidenced by their actions. To quote the article “Paul LaFontaine left Bertelsmann Music Group in March 1997 to advise other businesspeople about radical honesty. He has lots of work to do.” “There are as many lies in business as there are people in business,” he says. Here are his nominees for the five most common lies:

  • “People are our most important Asset”
  • “This was a rational decision”
  • “We judge people by their performance”
  • “This is business, it isnt personal”
  • “The customer comes first”

For more detail on why these are lies, go to the FC website here A good article…

The Moleskine Evangelists

Published
by
Mike
on May 4, 2006
in Marketing and sales
. 3 Comments

Perhaps you own one. I don’t. I barely write anymore – most of my thoughts get hammered out on a keyboard or spoken directly into a digital recorder. But I’m intrigued. Not by the odd Moleskine-bearer strolling nonchalantly around Melville or Rosebank (I usually dismiss them as artsy-types), but rather by the phenomenal online following the ol’ Moleskine brand enjoys.

The Moleskine (pronounced mol-a-skeen-a) is simply a brand of notebook manufactured by Modo & Modo, an Italian company, bound in oilcloth-covered cardboard (Moleskin) with an elastic band to hold the notebook closed and a sewn spine that allows it to lie flat when opened. Not particularly high tech, or particularly sexy, for that matter. The pocket notebook’s reputation has grown in stature through the endorsements of the likes of Bruce Chatwin, Neil Gaiman and Pete Doherty, and rumour would have it that the Moleskine was a favourite accessory to the likes of Picasso, Hemingway and Van Gogh.

Whether all the folklore is verifiable or not the Moleskine brand, through its product’s minimalist design and stylish simplicity, continues to enjoy a formidable, almost cultish following. I’ve never heard Moleskine notebooks advertised on the radio, nevermind on the telly, and yet everyone who’s anyone either owns one or can tell you something about them. That’s exceptional - the immense power of viral marketing, personified by a wad of blank pages.

Inside view of a Moleskine ruled notebook; the elastic band is visible on the right, as is the bookmark in the center.I was interested to hear Jackie Huba of the Church of the Customer blog talking about her Moleskine-fetish, and she listed some fascinating links to some of the more fanatical Moleskine Evangelists in the online world. Moleskine blogs, a MySpace site and even a comprehensive Wikipedia entry (from which, just by the way, I got most of the information for this article). All this free marketing by unpaid, enthusiastic citizens, who believe in the unobtrusive allure of an overpriced notebook.

How many citizen marketers does your brand have?

Learn to speak Teen

Published
by
Mike
on May 2, 2006
in Generation Y, Generations and Talent - Bright Young Things
. 1 Comment

I really enjoyed reading an article recently forwarded to me by Aiden called ‘Entertain. Inspire. Empower. How to speak a teen’s language, even if you’re not one.’ He found it at ChangeThis.com - a fascinating site that “is creating a new kind of media. A form of media that uses existing tools (like PDFs, blogs and the web) to challenge the way ideas are created and spread.” (read the ChangeThis manifesto here).

Josh Shipp, the author, echoes the sentiments of many of us who have something meaningful to share with younger generations but loose effectiveness somewhere in translation. He suggests a few pointers that will help you get your message across:

Entertain

Josh believes we need to earn the right to be heard. To the average teen, what you’ve achieved, how much you earn and what floor you work on means squat. When you get up to speak, or engage them in conversation, you start from scratch. They will listen when they trust you, and trust comes from you being authentic and unique - being yourself in other words. Teens will smell a rat faster than you can say ‘dubya’ if you’re not being authentic.

Inspire

We have long been taught that our mistakes show weakness. That if our kids see us fail, they’ll lose respect for us. However, teens learn more from mistakes and failures than successes, provided they’re authentic of course.

As an individual engaging teens, be prepared to share your story, with all its warts. As a company wanting to engage teens, be prepared to share your story, with all its warts.

Empower.

Listen. Pay attention. Be accountable. They’re smarter than you think they are.

Download the complete PDF below and if you enjoy it, rate it at ChangeThis.com. Shipp’s website can be found at www.joshshipp.com.


Teens Language PDF

Are World Cups history?

Published
by
Aiden Choles
on May 1, 2006
in General
. 2 Comments

I have no research to back this up, but I reckon we’ll soon be seeing the death of World Cup competitions … with the first being the soccer world cup. With the success of club competitions such as the EUFA Champions League, where the best clubs in Europe compete, loyalty is shifting from allegiance to one’s country towards the club one chooses to support. Some clubs even enjoy estimated supporter stats of roughly 43 million … or more. The thing about clubs is that they have no borders, they are brands. Loyalty is changing. We are seeing that one no longer need to originate from, or have some tenious link to a geographic region to be a supporter of that team. Sure, clashes between countries still draw millions and one’s nationality still rouses fueds of old. However, the power held within one’s nationality is not as potent as it was in days before global connectivity and globalisation.

Life Among The Dinosaurs

Published
by
Graeme Codrington
on May 1, 2006
in General
. 1 Comment

Here is a great article on newspapers. Worldwide, the newspaper industry is in such a complete state of denial that it is almost tragic. Enough of them are having a few successes with some of what they are currently trying for them to think that the digital age is going to bypass them. Most of them don’t realise that the readership is ageing and will soon literally die, and then it will all be over. To do scenario planning with newspapers is a sad affair.

I do think that there are things that can be done, and link ends with digital media that make sense (more than simply putting content online, whether free or subscriber only). But it’s going to take those people in charge of the industry to wake up and smell the coffee before anything meaningful can happen.

The short piece below appeared in the April 17, 2006 BusinessWeek. Click here for the original article.

There are almost 1,500 daily papers in the U.S., so the gathering of publishers at this year’s Newspaper Association of America annual conference — held Apr. 2-4 in Chicago — looked a lot like America. An America of local monopolists, that is: overwhelmingly white, male, late-middle-aged, and predisposed to wear suits on Sunday, even when traveling. They gathered to hear, once again, that the whole problem is that they are no longer monopolists.

Continue reading ‘Life Among The Dinosaurs’

Companies In The Crossfire

Published
by
Graeme Codrington
on May 1, 2006
in Connection Economy
. 1 Comment

At TomorrowToday, we are passionate about understanding the Connection Economy. We’re convinced that companies need to focus more and more attention on WHO they are, and not just on what they sell (or what they tell people about what they sell). Who you refers to a number of key issues: (1) your people, and what they believe and what they do (if your CEO has an affair, is that important? if your staff members are caught out smuggling drugs, does that impact whether people will buy from you?); (2) what causes and social issues your company supports; (3) your “triple bottom line” status - your social investment and your environmental impact; and (4) what institutions, political parties, causes you support.

This last point made the cover story of a recent edition of Business Week. The main point is that in an America currently more polarised by politics than at almost any time in its history, customers are choosing where to shop based on which political parties a store is known to support. This is the impact of the Connection Economy. And companies around the world need to take notice.

Read the story here (login required), or an extract below.

Continue reading ‘Companies In The Crossfire’

Learning from Bill Gates

Published
by
Lynda
on May 1, 2006
in Technology
. 0 Comments

>There was a great article in the latest Fortune magazine where Bill Gates gives us an overview of how he manages his work life in this world of overload. I think there are some great lessons for those of us being challenged by information overload and working in a virtual community. Being able to focus in the clutter and taking time out to think through important issues are two that come to mind when I read the article.
Read it here