Debates over whether the Internet is making us smart or stupid are entertaining in the bar and can serve as a pleasant background noise for ruminating during a keynote address in a dimly lit hotel ballroom. When I get back to work on Monday (or more likely on Sunday night) I return to the reality [...]
Also taggedThought leadership risks becoming an empty marketing phrase just as it becomes essential to long term success. In an idea economy more and more firms understand the importance of getting credit for being on the leading edge, but getting credit is best preceded by actually being there. Organizations that depend on generating and exploiting ideas [...]
Also tagged Learning, reflectionThe Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right, Gawande, Atul The idea of a simple checklist to raise the quality of a routine practice seems innocuous enough. It also seems to rankle those with lots of education and experience as an unnecessary intrusion on their autonomy. The canonical example is the story of the effort [...]
Also tagged checklist, health careI came across the following YouTube video the other day while checking out Boing Boing (one of my favorite sources of interesting and provocative stuff). Fascinating in its own right, but I keep coming back to it and thinking what it also has to say about the world we work in. Some thoughts: Don’t let [...]
Also taggedImage by The Value Web Photo Gallery via Flickr I’m struggling with the issue of incentives in organizations trying to promote improved knowledge management and more effective use of new collaboration tools such as blogs, wikis, and the like. Invariably, after an early spurt of activity and experimentation with the new systems, usage plateaus and [...]
Also tagged behavioral economics, IncentivesDrive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Pink, Daniel H. Pink takes a look at much the same evidence base as Lawrence and Nohria do in Driven with a slightly different purpose. His take is that organizations rely too heavily on extrinsic motivators (carrots and sticks) at the expense of tapping into much more [...]
Also tagged ThinkingLinchpin: Are You Indispensable?, Godin, Seth Seth Godin continues his quest to become the next Tom Peters. Linchpin is the latest installment of Godin’s advice to today’s knowledge workers and aspiring entrepreneurs. Here he shifts his focus from broader issues of marketing to the individual. Godin is the latest in a long line of thinkers [...]
Also tagged GodinPatti Anklam and I have reconnected after first meeting several years ago. We navigate in the same circles and our networks overlap, but I hadn’t been carefully following her work. My mistake and I’ve fixed that now. Here’s a recent piece from her with a very good overview presentation on moving from a general understanding [...]
Also tagged Social mediaJordan Frank is VP of Sales and Business Development for Traction Software. Last Fall, Paula Thornton ( @rotkapchen) interviewed Jordan during Traction’s annual user group meeting. Jordan has been working with a variety of knowledge intensive organizations over the much of the last decade. Here he shares some of his insights on the interplay between [...]
Also tagged TractionJessica Lipnack provides an excellent set of tips and best practices for making conference calls more productive. For all the time I spend on calls, I frequently find them immensely frustrating. I plan on incorporating these practices in whatever calls I can influence. I’ve excerpted a few highlights here: Could you please repeat the question? [...]
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