Beyond Selfishness. When I read about things like the need for copyright protections (otherwise nobody will produce content), about questionable e-learning marketing (because you must maximize profits this quarter), about this or that dynamic leader or guru in the field, and even about making learning companies more efficient (even if that involves layoffs), I often have thoughts of the sort echoed - finally - in this article. If you read anything in today's newsletter, read this one. "We do have a tradeoff to make, one crucial choice facing each of us as individuals. We can live our lives obsessed with getting ever more, with keeping score, with all that constant calculating and scheming. Or we can open ourselves to something else, engaging ourselves to engage others, so as to live our lives in balanced harmony." This is the unedited version of the paper that appeared (in part) in last June's Fast Company. By Henry Mintzberg, Robert Simmons, and Kunal Basu, June, 2002 [Refer][Research][Reflect] [OLDaily]

The shorter version ran in Fast Company as Memo to: CEOs .  Both essentially argue that pretending that people are no more than rational economic actors is misleading and dangerous.

10:22:58 PM •  • comment  

Tae Kwan Do black belt and Open Source guru Eric Steven Raymond presents a how-to guide to asking questions. Useful reading for online community members of all persuasions. Read more... 2002-10-18

From a new site Guerilla KM [item link ] found courtesy of Column Two.

An excellent piece on how to ask technical questions so that you are likely to get a useful response. Generalizable to other settings where asking productive questions is a useful skill.

9:47:41 PM •  • comment