Business Insight Zone

Dunno about you, but I’m having a hard time tackling the Big Stuff on this first Monday back from a long holiday break. The must-do’s are getting must-done, but otherwise . . . how about a few interesting tidbits to read?

1. I’ve argued before that you don’t need better technology; now Scott Berkun points to Vero Pepperrell, (a.k.a. “that Canadian Girl”), who says, sensibly enough, that what you really need for directing your own work is “a single sheet of paper and a calm brain.” Her post is angled toward the self-employed, but I find that many knowledge workers are essentially “self-employed” in terms of how they direct their own time. Adjust Vero’s observations (and Scott’s) accordingly based on your own situation.
   
2. If you care about design even remotely, or if you just want to jog loose a bunch of good ideas, dig through Paul Hughes’s design notebooks on Flickr — best viewed large. (Thanks to David Armano for pointing out Paul’s work.)
3. Kate Niederhoffer — who is, how shall I put this?, SMART — got together a bunch of other smart folks from psychology, social media, artificial intelligence, and so on to discuss where we might be headed in terms of measuring interactions online. Sample prediction for 2009: “We will determine how to measure the value of social interactions and attach financial value, whether we’re monetizing attention or a new medium.” Much more, including a PDF of the group discussion, on Kate’s blog.
4. Mark McGuinness, whose work I’ve raved about before, is offering a free e-book on How to Motivate Creative People (Including Yourself). I love what he has to say in it, especially about my old favorite, Anthony Trollope.
5. My friend Jon Lebkowsky is what you could call old-school when it comes to online communities. He offers excellent insights in his recent post, “Social media, identity, and civility.” One favorite line: “Yes, indeed – the line between social media and socializing face-to-face seems blurred – because it doesn’t really have to exist.”
6. Jim Grisanzio (you may remember his excellent thoughts on Toyota from a while back) brings the thunder with “Real Leadership Starts with Real Action,” in which he lauds JAL chief Haruka Nishimatsu’s brass-tacks approach to leadership. One choice bit: “Never mind that the service on JAL (and most Asian airlines) is vastly superior to every single American and European carrier in the air, I’m talking this guy’s plane because he’s talking the bus. Period.”

What have you been reading that you would like to share?

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Photo by Dawn Endico, used under a CC-Share Alike license.