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March 31, 2004

Knowledge Mismanagement

Two interesting perspectives on knowledge management were published online recently. The essays provide thought-provoking bookends to the consideration of how information is used within organizations -- and how teams collaborate. In Technology Review, Alex Pentland contends that data mining doesn't go far enough. Companies need to be "reality mined."

Studies of office interactions indicate that as much as 80 percent of work time is spent in spoken conversation, and that critical pieces of information are transmitted by word of mouth in a serendipitous fashion. Commonplace wearable technology can be used to characterize the face-to-face interactions of employees -- and to map out a company�s de facto organization chart. The new reality-mined data allow us to cluster people on the basis of profiles generated from an aggregate of conversation, e-mail, location, and Web data.

Continue reading "Knowledge Mismanagement"

Posted by Heath Row at 2:27 PM | 38 Comments

Throw-Away Technology

Following my move to New York, my CD player stopped working. It would recognize discs -- but give an error message when I tried to play one. Knowing that there is a CD and electronics repair shop down the block, I considered taking it in for repair, but because it was more than 10 years old, I decided to just buy a new one -- and I found a good five-disc player for less than $100. I don't feel good about leaving the old player on the curb, but even if it cost around $100 to repair, it feels good to have a new player. And I'm not sure why.

According to a recent survey in the UK, I am not alone. The BBC reports that more than half of people between the ages of 16 and 34 plan to replace their cell phones and DVD players every three years. Only 2% will continue to use the same technology tools for more than five years. Some critics say that tool makers have built in obsolescence -- case in point, early iPods' unreplaceable batteries.

Continue reading "Throw-Away Technology"

Posted by Heath Row at 12:17 PM | 4 Comments

March 30, 2004

How to Fix a Broken Brand

In early 2002, Scott Bedbury offered nine ways to fix a broken brand. Yesterday, Harvard Business School's Working Knowledge published a piece on second acts for old brands. They're an interesting comparative read. First, Bedbury's nine points of exploration:

I know that my brand is broken -- I just don't know why.
My brand changes direction with each new product and marketing campaign. Everything is disconnected and off on different tangents. How do I keep it cohesive?
My brand is boring. It doesn't create excitement in my customers or in my employees. (And it's been a long time since it excited anyone on Wall Street.)
My brand is dead.
My brand is stuck in the past.
My brand is too narrow.
My brand is immature.
My brand isn't cool.

Continue reading "How to Fix a Broken Brand"

Posted by Heath Row at 6:07 PM | 2 Comments

Increasing Business Intelligence

ITtoolbox, the producer of the Business Intelligence Knowledge Base, recently launched a series of blogs that take a first-hand look into the daily challenges faced by real-world IT professionals.

Addressing business intelligence, technology strategy, project management, software development, and business analysis, the blogs are insightful, personal approaches to organizational technology challenges. The service might be worth following to learn more about shared challenges, new ideas, and practical solutions.

Posted by Heath Row at 5:30 PM | 1 Comment

Working Your Network IV

Last August, shortly after FC Now launched, senior writer Linda Tischler discovered Eliyon's CorporateAlumni service, which people can use to track down former colleagues and coworkers. Early this afternoon, FC Now reader Peter Eng emailed me about a similar tool, Coworker Finder.

Largely based in Canada, folks can use the tool to build their own professional profiles, browse featured companies, and interact with other members. The site is relatively small -- the companies that start with the letter "c" were limited to three, all in Vancouver -- but it'll be interesting to see how the project develops, especially with its geoographic focus.

Posted by Heath Row at 2:29 PM | 9 Comments

Marketing Via Voicemail

In the April issue, Scott Kirsner looks at a new form of spam: "snam," the deluge of impersonal -- though connected -- emails brought on by social networking services such as Orkut.

This morning, FC Now reader Joseph price emailed to ask a question about a somewhat related -- and slightly new -- form of mobile marketing:

I got a voicemail last night on my cellphone from the guy who sold us our T Mobile phone. He invited us to "Hawaiian Day" at the local mall kiosk. He said there would be prizes, including account credit for example, for the best Hawaiian outfit.
Is this approach widespread? I am intrigued by it. Frankly if I wasn't so busy right now, I'd be tempted to go out of curiosity. Imagine building an in-person, local community of people who happened to buy the same brand of cellphone and marketing at the same time!

Also the fact that it was just this guy inviting me via my cellphone, in his own voice. And my phone never even rang, it was just a voicemail - so it avoids the stamp of "telemarketing" and the irritation that goes with it. I have to say I'm impressed with the ingenuity... Is this new??

While I've received -- and been irritated by SMS spam -- I've yet to receive a marketing voicemail. Does anyone have any insight on this? Any other stories or experiences to share?

Posted by Heath Row at 10:32 AM | 19 Comments

March 29, 2004

Meetings Matter

Over at the Nub, contributor Jon comments on a Financial Times article about the value of meetings. While there are many meetings worth participating in, many agree that most meetings don't work.

To continue today's informal theme of optimism, here are five reasons meetings can matter:

talking to humans makes a pleasant change from staring at a computer screen
meetings are at best an easy way of getting things done; at worst, a guilt-free way of doing nothing
meetings tell you a lot about what type of people your colleagues are
perform well in a meeting and boost your ego in the process
the ritual of coffee and biscuits is an agreeable one

Posted by Heath Row at 1:23 PM | 2 Comments

Offshore Storm IV

The April issue of Fast Company features a cover story about offshoring's impact on the people whose jobs are sent overseas. Later this week, we'll offer several Web exclusives to accompany the cover story, including an interview that expands on the human costs of offshoring, a brief history of the practice, and an optimistic perspective on the future of innovation in America -- and a less-rosy view of the coming labor shortage.

If a recent Gartner study is an accurate indication, the offshoring trend will only continue apace. While just 5% of domestic IT jobs have been offshored, as much as 25% could be situated overseas by 2010. Think about that for a moment. 25%. Regardless of where you stand on the offshoring issue, that's a lot of jobs -- and a lot of American jobs lost.

Assuming that offshoring is a fait accompli -- that it's not sensible to overly legislate or restrict it -- what needs to be done? The United States is currently experiencing a "jobless recovery." What do we need to do to improve the state of the U.S. economy -- while creating new and maintaining existing jobs?

Posted by Heath Row at 1:17 PM | 6 Comments

Optimism Management?

Laurent Bossavit offers an intriguing take on project management -- risk management. Whereas risk management can attract a lot of discussion and consideration, Bossavit proposes that it's not risk that needs to be managed in business -- but optimism.

If by "manage" we mean something like "control the amount or supply of something", then risk is for the most part not something we can manage. What we can control is our attitude to risk - and in that respect, the most serious problem in our industry is optimism, the belief that we can make plans and expect things to reliably unfold according to these plans.
Optimism has its place in project management activities. It is a key component of entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurship is at the heart of the sort of management which projects require. Thus, I often argue that optimism is the occupational disease of managers in project contexts, from startups' CEOs to project managers in larger enterprises.

At the same time, optimism may well be a leading contributor of project failure, as a factor of blindness to project risks.

Fast Company has long aimed to be an optimistic, progressive business magazine. But we've still taken a look at risk, including career development risk, the role of risk managers, and how no reward comes without risks.

We've also made the case for pragmatic optimism. But the questions remain. Like innovation, does optimism come with its own risks? And can optimism be managed?

Posted by Heath Row at 1:05 PM | 2 Comments

Lunch Is Fun(ctional) II

Sometimes, just like square meals, good things come in threes. A couple of months after a previous entry about the business value of lunch meetings, lunch seems to be top of mind again. (It's almost noon as I write this, so it's certainly top of mind right now.)

In the April issue of Fast Company (online in its entirety soon), Nate Nickerson offers five things you need to know about the power lunch of your. A quick peek:

Pick the sweet spot
Let them come to you
It's the chemistry
Breakfast is the new lunch
Call for the check already

Then, in this week's edition of Transit Authority, Donna Williams recommends the best business restaurants in three urban areas. Many of them serve lunch.

And in response to the April article, a Company of Friends member in Las Vegas emailed me last night about a book about the very topic. The Art of the Business Lunch, written by an advertising account manager, takes a look at how to build better business relationships between 12 and 2 p.m.

While I've yet to see whether the book is useful, I'm hungry for more. Now, what's for lunch? How do you use lunch as a tool for work? Do you have any fun and productive lunchtime stories to tell?

Posted by Heath Row at 12:11 PM | 11 Comments

March 26, 2004

Learning by Design

This week, Peter Davidson and Curt Rosengren highlighted a recent article in the Design Observer.

Penned by Michael Bierut, the piece examines an essay written by architect Michael McDonough entitled "The Top 10 Things They Never Taught Me in Design School." Here's the short form:

Talent is one-third of the success equation.
95 percent of any creative profession is s#*t work.
If everything is equally important, then nothing is very important.
Don�t over-think a problem.
Start with what you know; then remove the unknowns.
Don�t forget your goal.
When you throw your weight around, you usually fall off balance.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions; or, no good deed goes unpunished.
It all comes down to output.
The rest of the world counts.

Useful advice, regardless of your practice or profession.

Posted by Heath Row at 4:45 PM | 1 Comment

A Toothsome Grin

Going to the dentist doesn't have to be as painful as pulling teeth. Or so believes the founders of Dental Design of Kedron in Peachtree City, Georgia.

Brought to our attention by Decent Marketing's Katherine Stone, the dental office reportedly provides "several amenities to patients, including a complimentary juice bar with fresh fruit, full-body massage units on the treatment chairs, flat-screen televisions with DVD players to watch movies while being treated, and iPods for your music listening pleasure."

Seemingly opening for business late last year, the business sounds like a dental service that makes clients smile -- not wince.

Posted by Heath Row at 4:34 PM | 4 Comments

Online Insights

Starting next week, on Monday, we're launching a new weekly series of Online Insights columnists to be featured on the home page.

Our first featured writer is Vijay Govindarajan, director of the William F. Achtmeyer Center for Global Leadership at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. Every month, he and his colleague Chris Trimble will share their ideas and insights on strategy execution.

While Online Insights was just added to fastcompany.com, we'd like to offer FC Now readers a sneak peek. Let us know what you think!

Posted by Heath Row at 2:50 PM | 8 Comments

Near-Sighted (Tele)Vision

Paul Allen sold TechTV to Comcast Corp. yesterday for below $300 million. Allen took a loss on the station, which he unsuccessfully tried to fold into his own cable network, Charter Communications.

But rather than continue to build on TechTV, which currently employs about 300 people -- and which features programs such as "Robot Wars" and "Spy School" -- Comcast intends to merge it with its video game network, G4. That network employs 200 people, and layoffs are expected.

Fast Company contributors have worked with TechTV in the past. Fingers crossed that the merger goes well, and that G4 absorbs some of TechTV's tech savviness and ideas.

Posted by Heath Row at 11:09 AM | 13 Comments

March 25, 2004

Trend$ - Riding the Spirit of the Age

It's 1993. Tom Hays, a family friend, is holding a 6-inch length of white PVC pipe over my dining room table as we sit down for dinner. "I call it the 'Bobbitt Guard!'" he says. Hays had purchased a truckload of pipe, printed out reams of gag labels, and was shopping the novelty around to local gas stations. The unfortunate John Bobbitt himself was only about 120 seconds into his 15 minutes of fame. I was convinced Hays would be rich.

While Tom Hays wasn't the first man to ride the cresting wave of a pop culture trend, the Bobbitt Guard is representative of a colorful subset of trend marketing: parody products. From Garbage Pail Kids to Is Martha Stewart Living?, Clinton's "La Monica" cigars to Bush playing cards, marketing by parody is a cash cow.

And no wonder. Lately, parody has gone into overdrive in American society. In the past five years, satiric media heavyweights like The Onion and Comedy Central's The Daily Show have seen tremendous success (prompting one recent New York subway ad to ask, "When did the fake news become more important than the real news?") Americans, seemingly more and more polarized by everything from each other's politics to each other's diets, are seeking comfort with the age-old balm of laughter. Today, as Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ sweeps theaters across the country, the crew of Monty Python announced that it would be re-releasing The Life of Brian - their 1979 biblical satire - as "an antidote to all the hysteria about Mel's movie." Where there is controversy, there's a buck to be made...

Continue reading "Trend$ - Riding the Spirit of the Age"

Posted by Lucas Conley at 9:24 PM | 13 Comments

Martha's Reputation Rehab II

Not long ago, I emailed the Support Economy discussion group with a question about narcissism in large organizations and what impact highly visible leaders might have on the services they provide customers and clients. An excerpt:

In light of the recent Martha Stewart trial, I recently reread Shoshana's February column which suggests that the recent wave of business scandals is the result of a narcissistic -- and male -- business culture. The cases discussed in the column and the Stewart investment imbroglio are slightly different, but I was struck by one phrase in particular: "Organizational narcissism is about culture, not individuals."
Television stations have dropped Stewart's TV program. Her column is being rebranded Living, dropping her name. And the omnimedia organization she led is considering her role within the company. But I wonder -- without exploring whether leadership gaffes are male in nature -- how does the Stewart case relate to the Enrons and Arthur Andersens of the world? Because Stewart's missteps were largely individual investment decisions -- not decisions made in the name of the company at large -- is her "punishment" warranted?

Whether Stewart is a narcissist isn't the issue here. But how far should our external, personal activities and choices go in terms of affecting the organizations we work for, in, and with? Does Stewart's behavior affect the company at large? The public response I've been exposed to seems to indicate that her trial doesn't change the organization's relationship with customers -- much less the support and service it offers them.

Now, in Knowledge@Wharton, a writer asks: When the CEO is the brand, but falls from grace, what's next?

It's a good question -- and the piece goes far to consider the value -- and risks -- of brand personification, celebrity obsession, the balance required when building a company's image, and whether negative publicity matters. Sign up for the Support Economy discussion group and join the conversation!

Posted by Heath Row at 4:25 PM | 15 Comments

Career Planning by Spam

I get a lot of email, which means that I get a lot of spam. This morning, I got into work to a spam that made me smile. Sent by the Job Research Dept. in Ireland, the email featured the subject line "Top 10 Best Paying Online Jobs," and I thought it'd be a close parallel to an entry about growth industries earlier this month.

Not so. Here's the list:

Get Paid To Take Online Surveys GET PAID FOR YOUR OPINION! Join the #1 'Surveys' Program. Make $10 - $250 AN HOUR doing surveys!
Get Paid To Be A Mystery Shopper Get paid $10 to $40 an HOUR just to go to the mall to shop and eat at your favorite restaurants
Get Paid 2 Drive Your Car With An Ad On It Companies will pay you $3,000+ per month to drive your car with an advertisement on it, .......OR... they will give you a FREE (NEW) ad car to drive.
Get Paid To Work Online! Receive A Great Monthly Paycheck Just Using Your Home Computer! Get Paid To Read Email or Surf the net!
Make $150 A Day. Work At Home. Get paid $25 - $150 per hour working at home in your spare time, or $4,500 per month without leaving home
I Raked In $436,797 Online Last Year One woman, with no previous business experience, earns $435,000+ per year online. Now you can too!
Homejobstop Dedicated to helping home-based professionals find rewarding work quickly and easily. Updated Daily.
Google Cash You Can Earn Thousands Of Dollars By Writing Google AdWords Part-Time.
DollarFrog.com Get paid to shop to be a Mystery Shopper! Get paid for your opinion taking surveys! Great work at home jobs.
The Silent Sales Machine Hiding On eBay Get your own 'Silent Sales Machine' and automate your online auction income - a simple proven formula.

Now, Homejobstop is a telecommuting job resource, and Dollarfrog is indeed a mystery shopping and online survey company. But I'm curious: Is this the envelope-stuffing work-from-home opportunity of the 2K's? Is the email itself an example of the actual work -- pay people to recruit other people to recruit other people, etc.?

Regardless, I do like the idea of getting paid $250 for taking a 25-minute survey -- and getting a free (new) ad car to drive. Sign me up.

Posted by Heath Row at 2:25 PM | 3 Comments

Internet Payphones: Great, Useless Fun

Boy, when the FC team goes out for a little R&R, like we did last night, we just can't leave work behind (See David's Purple Cow experience).

As I walked back to the office from a neighboring pub, I noticed what I thought at first to be a group of thugs mugging a payphone. But then I took a closer look and, lo and behold, they were actually using (at least I think they were) one of TCC Teleplex's new Internet payphones--half Internet terminal, half payphone-27 of which have cropped up around midtown Manhattan this spring.

Continue reading "Internet Payphones: Great, Useless Fun"

Posted by Ryan Underwood at 11:54 AM | 2 Comments

Liquid Purple Cows

Went out to a barbeque restaurant last night with some FC colleagues and when the dessert menu came, how could I not, as Seth Godin's editor, have been intrigued by the purple cow float? I honestly had never heard of such a dessert but of course had heard of Seth's book, Purple Cow, which is about remarkable products.

Continue reading "Liquid Purple Cows"

Posted by David Lidsky at 7:29 AM | Add Comment

March 24, 2004

Novel Ideas

Do you have a novel idea? Fast Company wants to know: What are the best books -- as in novels -- for business? You tell us.

Posted by Heath Row at 5:28 PM | 1 Comment

Rest in Peace

Brian Maxwell, a marathon runner who invented the PowerBar, died last Friday. 51 years old, he colllapsed while standing in line to mail a package at a California post office.

No disrespect intended, but is this another instance of Atkins' Law in effect? Do the untimely deaths of business leaders whose careers are built on new health methods downplay the effectiveness and promise of their work?

Morgan Spurlock determined that an all-McDonald's diet isn't healthy -- perhaps health food purveyors shouldn't just eat their own dog food?

Posted by Heath Row at 5:24 PM | 3 Comments

R&D-Har-Har-Har

Just to show that life and work at Wizards of the Coast Inc. isn't all fun and games -- wait... that it is all fun and games -- the company even offers some information about pranks and shenanigans perpetrated by the R&D team.

Written just last year, the article reminds me of some of the methods companies used to remain relaxed -- yet on task -- during the boom. Nerf guns and fresh eggs, anyone?

Posted by Heath Row at 2:27 PM | Add Comment

Multitask Master III

John Moore at OurHouse helps me continue my roll thinking about multiprojecting, multitasking, and, well, juggling. In a recent writeup of a presentation by Cynthia Haddock, who works in polarity management, I think we might find the seeds of a strategic approach to keeping multiple irons in the fire -- and hot, too.

Leaders need to be conservative for stability and revolutionary for change.
Organizations need centralized coordination and decentralized initiatives

Managers and employees need training and must do their work.

We need to support team development and reward individual achievement.

We need to reduce our costs and improve quality.

All of us are faced with work commitments and home commitments.

None of the above are problems to solve by choosing one and neglecting the other. They are what we call polarities (dilemmas, paradoxes) which are inherently unavoidable and unsolvable. The on-going, natural tension between the poles can be destructive and debilitating or can be managed, and channeled into a creative synergy that leads to superior outcomes.

How does this apply to projects? Rather than approach projects in terms of prioritization, perhaps we approach them as poles. What activities truly are either-or in the sense that they're multually exclusive and we need to prioritize? Which projects are related -- even in the smallest of ways -- so there is some opportunity for overlapping work and progress? What projects are necessary to complete as the foundation for future projects?

Haddock recommends the books Paradoxical Thinking and Polarity Management as tools. Probably a good place to start.

Posted by Heath Row at 2:00 PM | Add Comment

Retail Details III

Julian Dibbell, who has spent the last year trying to support his family by selling virtual goods and services in the Ultima Online gaming environment, may fall short of his goals. You can follow his progress in Play Money, his "journal of a dubious proposition."

Posted by Heath Row at 1:44 PM | Add Comment

Multitask Master II

Building on a discussion FC Now readers started last month, Johanna Rothman has written an article for StickyMinds about the risks of working on multiple high-priority projects at the same time.

Using the term "multiprojecting," Rothman addresses the challenges of scheduling and context switching, suggesting that project managers enable their teams to "continue working on the same project, at the same level, for as long as possible." Her recommendation has merit, but realizing that it is often necessary to keep multiple irons in the fire, how can we better able strike while the irons are hot?

Posted by Heath Row at 1:33 PM | Add Comment

Depression Impression II

Rebecca at the Monster Blog picks up where we left off yesterday. She recommends the following tips for those suffering from depression at work:

Make an appointment with your doctor ASAP. Don't be afraid to talk about this; remember, millions of people suffer from depression.
Talk to your family or trusted friends and colleagues. They've probably noticed that you are not yourself and will be relieved to talk to you about it.
Take stock of your current situation: What might be causing you to feel depressed (if it is situational depression)? Are you unhappy at work? Are you stressed about finances? What can you do to mitigate the factors that may be contributing to your depression?

While that's useful advice, I'm still curious: How do people suffering from depression continue to work effectively and efficiently? How do you let your colleagues know -- in such a way that you're not burdened with a stigma or second-guessing?

Posted by Heath Row at 1:00 PM | 1 Comment

Corporate Cartoons

Inspired by David Rees' Get Your War On clip-art comic strip, Frank Patrick is experimenting with making comic strips using PowerPoint. He even offers a template so Web readers can create their own corporate clip-art comic strips. If you explore this yourself -- and your project is business and work related -- be sure to add a comment here so we can check it out.

Posted by Heath Row at 12:56 PM | 2 Comments

Resume, I Presume

Washington, D.C.-based recruitment firm VIP Staffing transmitted a "news release" today decrying companies' use of resumes to hire new employees. Citing a 1999 Nation's Business survey -- and other studies -- to offer a hodgepodge barrage of scary statistics, VIP offers that:

95% would lie on their resumes to get a job
41% have already lied
Almost 70% of new hires are considered disappointments within the first year
Only 14% of those hired based on job interviews meet expectations

Yoinks! What to do? VIP suggests that leaders use assessment tests. In the April issue -- available in full online soon, as well as on better newsstands everywhere -- Alison Overholt looks at how Dow Chemical uses the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to determine whether people match their job descriptions.

What do you think? Are resumes no longer relevant? What is the new-school resume going to look like? For example, when applying for jobs, Pam Carr sent a CD of 1940s standards -- performed by Carr -- titled "Songs from a Marketing Executive." Gimmick? Or goal-getter?

Posted by Heath Row at 11:12 AM | 2 Comments

March 23, 2004

Service Survey II

Earlier this month, Marcia Yudkin conducted a survey about working with difficult clients and customers. The results -- which are now available -- are interesting.

Here are the top five client challenges:

Exhausting to deal with: 63%
Impossible to please: 51%
Kept trying to get free advice: 46%
Whiny, complaining, always negative: 41%
Asked for changes after project supposedly finished: 40%

Even more interesting are the comments, advice, and perspectives of respondents. Lots of food for thought!

Posted by Heath Row at 12:50 PM | Add Comment

Guru Read II

The author of the blog What's Your Brand Mantra responds to Mike Smock and Curt Sahakian's Guru Red Manifesto, challenging one of their points.

Taking on the idea that the customer is not your friend -- and that it's not always necessary to respond to customer needs -- Jennifer Rice addresses the exchange of value, as well as the tradeoffs between image and innovation. So doing, she makes a case for why some businesses can't move into the "premium brand" category.

Posted by Heath Row at 12:44 PM | Add Comment

Will Work for the Dumb?

The Nub gives props to a customizable online learning service called Will Work for Fun. The idea behind the tool is pretty simple -- mix up work-related questions with trivial bits about Elizabeth Hurley and other more pop culture-related topics -- to develop an in-house infotainment product.

While I appreciate the thinking behind Will Work for Fun, I'm not sold on the idea. Perhaps the online demo doesn't give the project full justice, but indicating where leaders can place their company logo and including such sample questions as

This question could be one of many questions custom designed to train and educate employees.

Correct
Wrong
Wrong
Wrong

doesn't really inspire. Are there better, more effective projects along these lines that I should know about?

Posted by Heath Row at 11:12 AM | Add Comment

Depression Impression

According to a new study by the University of Michigan Depression Center, professionals suffering from depression in the workplace face challenges when seeking treatment. Among the key findings:

41 percent feel they can acknowledge their illness and still get ahead in their careers
Almost 90 percent report having mental health coverage
75 percent delay seeking help
Only 11 percent of companies offer employee screenings for depression
18 percent of managers have received the training to identify depression and intervene with employees

While 83 percent of people seeking assistance say their boss handled the situation well, depression still carries stigma. What to do? According to Fawn Fitter, co-author of Working in the Dark: Keeping Your Job While Dealing with Depression, "You are damned if you tell and damned if you don't." HealthyPlace offers some additional advice.

Posted by Heath Row at 9:56 AM | 1 Comment

March 22, 2004

Re:Conference V

Couldn't make it to PC Forum in Scottsdale, Arizona? Fret not. The fine folks at SocialText are hosting an "eventspace" for the conference that comprises an event blog that shares notes from the various sessions, a photo blog in which participants can upload sights from on site, and other grassroots reports on the proceedings.

Posted by Heath Row at 5:22 PM | Add Comment

What You Learned in the New Economy

Shades of our March look at the lessons of the dotcom boom and bust, David Kirsch is working on a couple of interesting projects at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland.

The Business Plan Archive collects business plans and other documents from new economy businesses active between 1996 and 2002. Users can even contribute information to the listings to share their side of the story. And Creative Destruction is a survey project designed to elicit lessons from the dotcom bubble, as well.

While a number of memoirs have already been written about individual experiences at specific companies, no systematic study of former dot com workers has been completed. For future historians to properly understand what life was like in these heady times they will need more than anecdotal information. Our survey serves as a first step in filling this gap.

It'll be fascinating to see what comes out of Kirsch's research!

Posted by Heath Row at 2:33 PM | Add Comment

"Followers," Lead Thyselves

In the March edition of her email newsletter High-Per Hints, Ellyn Traub considers the impact "followers" have on leadership within an organization. FC Now readers have challenged the notion of followers within companies before, but Traub offers some interesting ideas.

Citing Ira Chaleff, she outlines some of the responsibilities of followers:

Understand your power and how to use it.
Appreciate the value of the leader and the contributions he or she makes to forward the organization's mission.
Work toward minimizing the pitfalls of power by helping your leader to remain on track for the long-term common good.

She also expands on the qualities of successful followers:

Think For Themselves: By managing yourself you inspire confidence and trust. Develop emotional intelligence; learn to regulate split-second emotions of anger and anxiety and allow for more appropriate and logical interactions.
Develop Their Professional Equity: Develop and take action on a plan of life long learning. Continually update your skills, your networks and seek out extra work and responsibilities.
Stay True To Their Code of Ethics: You will run into situations that fall into those areas of gray where working towards the goals of the organization may be misaligned with your personal values. You have choices.
Take Risks: Taking risks means that you will make mistakes- admit to them and learn from them. Leaders need and want honest and candid feedback. At first it may not be well received, but eventually you will be the one they turn to for that feedback.

Huh, suddenly, followers start to look like leaders! Useful ideas to think about when working with colleagues, partners, and customers.

Posted by Heath Row at 2:22 PM | 1 Comment

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