Social Media - We're Just Getting Started

Gentry Underwood focuses on social media and collaborative software at IDEO. He works both internally and with the firm's clients to design and build software people will actually use.  Check out his recent post: Social Software, The Other Design for Social Impact. Gentry's post includes the following exerpt:

It isn't difficult to see where most social software falls short: many tools have pleasant, user-friendly interfaces and take advantage of well-designed physical devices (i.e., they're easy to use from a human-computer-interaction perspective). But it's in the sociological and anthropological arenas where they run into trouble: most social software tools are clumsy and ineffective at smoothly facilitating interpersonal interaction.

The bottom line, which Underwood intelligently shares, is that we are in the infancy of social software and new methods of designing these tools will lead to more powerful applications of their capabilities. Join Gentry and continue the discussion at http://socialsoftware.org. In the meantime watch this hillarious satirized look at Facebook by the British improv troupe Idiots of Ants  that pushes the social behaviors of Facebook to the extreme.

The Key Challenge for Organizations - New Disciplines

Most established organization's have everything they need to take advantage of high-growth opportunities, with one exception: the right disciplines. Below are fundmanental concepts required to achieve success during this time of the convergence of the three mega dynamics of the revolution: globalism, technology & culture. See Rita Mcgrath's lecture below on these important topics and consider how you can bring these disciplines to your organization and reap the opportunities the revolution is presenting to us all.

Topic	Key Message
Discovery Driven Planning	Stop using the same planning techniques for new businesses that you use for existing ones; instead, plan to learn
MarketBusting	Identify huge growth opportunities by using five key lenses with discipline
Entrepreneurial Leadership	Understand the five key practices that create an entrepreneurial mindset and culture in your company
Capturing the most value from venturing	Get beyond go/no go thinking when evaluating your ventures to maximize their benefit to your company
Designing a portfolio for growth	Balance long-term and short-term investment horizons while simultaneously integrating strategy, projects, budgeting and people development
The middle managers’ role in growth programs	USe middle managers as the secret weapon in a drive to create growth.
Designing the launch	What should you take into account when you are launching your new business?
Dynamic Strategy	For years, we’ve been told that sustainable competitive advantage is the best strategic outcome. Rita shows you that temporary advantages can be just as powerful.

Rita Gunther McGrath from Rita McGrath on Vimeo.

Want to Move Your Industry Forward ? Watch this.....

Has the industry you work in lost its way? Sense a disconnect between what it espouses, the potential and the reality ? Many examples exist. In franchising, industry groups like IFA brag about the great success of franchising, yet research shows the majority of franchises rarely make money and have lower success rates than independent businesses. The disconnect is evident in many industries today.

Professor Terri Griffith's recent post "Can We Increase the Rate of Organizational Change" gets at this point when she references a WSJ article Online Compliments Can Haunt You, Too by William M. Bulkeley and Luis Suarez‘ post Evangelist: Think! She writes, "The WSJ article and the post both highlight that although we have the technology tools and some of the personal motivation to change our organizations — it is going to take a long time. Please let this not be true."

Why such disconnects ? Because many organizations don't work any more and until the majority of the good people who want to make a difference start adopting new means of organizing to get things done  outside of traditional models - it won't get any better. If your one of the many thousands of good people working hard in any of these or other countless organizations and industries caught up in the disconnect between leadership, purpose and reality, welcome aboard - you CAN do something about it.

How Do You Compete ? Its All About the Organization

The rate of change in the world is very rapid. What you or your team might have become adept at can quickly evaporate. If your organization is unable to stay on top of radical change, it will be unable to stay ahead of new or existing competitors. Staying ahead means having an organization able to learn and get better. Unfortunately, this can run counter to leaderships abilities, often based on dated beliefs and linear thinking perpetrating the status quo. Brutally confronting facts, being straight forward and having people with the accumen and ability to understand the best path is a rare combination; hence the reason applications of learning organization disciplines are uncommon today. Watch Harvard Professors David Garvin and Amy Edmondson describe how learning organizations generate and act on new knowledge enabling companies to stay ahead of change and the competition.

Welch, This Oracle Is Just What the Doctor Ordered

Organizations and their leaders can react in different ways during tough times. With many industries experiencing tumultuous and fundamental change compounded by recession, it is more daunting then ever for leaders to understand what the best choices are for the future. From Lencioni’s Five Dysfunctions to Collin’s Good to Great , theories abound regarding the relevant paths to success.

Such uncertainty makes the advice of those who have “been there and done that” quite refreshing. Jack Welch should be the “poster child” for such enlightened and valuable counsel . As with the Oracle character from the Matrix films, he possesses the power of foresight, and his experience serves to advise and guide those attempting to overcome serious challenges. His back to basics philosophy, founded on the four pillars of mission, behaviors, candor and differentiation, is just what the doctor ordered for many leaders in today’s world. Watch Jack during this Managementv interview explain what is truly relevant to organizational success as he outlines his beliefs in the four pillars. An adoption of these rules is a good place to begin when evaluating how to move your organization forward in the best manner possible.