While trawling around on YouTube recently I came across a 1980s video of Tim Finn’s There’s a Fraction too much Friction and it got me thinking about the things that annoy me in dealing with businesses. I concluded that the source of my irritation is friction. I have long observed that business has many things … [Read more…]
No, I’m not talking about social media. This is about real life. And I think that Gandhi summed up a lot of what the #Occupy movement is on about in his note on the Seven social sins. “Politics without principles Wealth without work Pleasure without conscience Knowledge without character Commerce without morality Science without humanity … [Read more…]
The old style company, that is the company circa 1880-2000, had firm boundaries and fixed hierarchies in order to function efficiently. But with the advent of digital technology and the consumer social computing revolution there is a seismic shift in how technology is used within companies. There are also significant changes in worker expectations and, … [Read more…]
I came across an article in Wired Science by Jonah Lehrer titled Do Nice Guys Finish Last?. It had plenty to get me thinking. Apparently: “… levels of ‘agreeableness’ are negatively correlated with the earnings of men” Then: “There are six facets to agreeableness: trust, straightforwardness, compliance, altruism, modesty and tender-mindedness. “ Also: “Women were slightly … [Read more…]
Friction is one of the more important concepts in the world. Many things are either made possible or impeded by friction. Strike a match and the friction creates a flame. Yet that same kind of friction stops other things from flowing smoothly. Perhaps the best description of the challenges that arise from friction is from … [Read more…]
This week I spoke at the Recruitment Technology Evaluation Convention in Sydney. The topic was navigating the hyperconnected world from a recruitment and human resources perspective. The key issues facing businesses now include: Hyperconnectivity and the digital revolution New rules for engagement and recruitment Why community matters more than ever The proliferation of social computing … [Read more…]
Steve Hopkins was telling me recently about an interesting law firm he’d come across in San Francisco – it’s called Robot. Where lawyer and junior partner Tim Hwang and his senior partners, Apollo Cluster and “Daria” XR-1029, work to merge legal and technical systems. It was this law firm, and an interesting conversation Steve had … [Read more…]
It is interesting to think about this now that we see Occupy Wall Street spreading around the world (even to Occupy Sydney). Back in 1976 Michael Jensen and William Meckling argued that the solution to the principal-agency problem — business leaders advance their own interests not those of shareowners — was to make the goal … [Read more…]
On Thursday I spoke about Social Innovation Sydney at SydStart along with Selena Griffith, Michelle Williams, and Kim Chen. Apart from the Social Innovation Sydney team there was an illustrious line-up for SydStart – you can see the list here. My brief talk was focused on the approach taken to build community around social innovation, and I … [Read more…]
During an exchange on Twitter earlier this year with some folks who were attending #scrmsummit we chatted about customer service and about how costs are a real focus for most customer service activity. Thus, rather than focusing on excellent customer service, most organisations focus on the cheapest and most efficient form of customer service. But … [Read more…]
