change

by: Idris Mootee

by: John Caddell

Our kids' piano teacher lets our kids choose a little prize after their lessons, if they've tried hard and been attentive. The other day, my wife said, after tripping over one of these dollar toys for the millionth time, "I may have to tell her to start bringing candy, instead of these little toys. I can't keep up with all the crap."

by: John Caddell

Hobby Princess blogs very infrequently these days (I'm guessing that a new baby in the house has something to do with that). Nonetheless, when she posts, it's essential reading. Her most recent post, "Renting Is The New Buying," theorizes how the recession might alter our consumption habits.

She writes:

by: Idris Mootee

One problem we face today is that strategy and vision are feeding the mistaken belief that developing exactly the right strategy alone will enable a company to beat competitors. Strategy has long been championed as the blueprint for organizational success. Strategy consultants are the private think-tanks of CEOs.

by: Jonathan Salem Baskin

by: John Caddell

by: danah boyd

In youth culture

When I read the Chicago Tribune's coverage of why teens have eschewed dates for school dances, I wanted to scream. This shift has nothing to do with "the way young people view personal relationships in the age of Facebook, MySpace and Twitter" (and not just because teens don't use Twitter in significant numbers yet).

by: Scott Goodson

by: John Caddell

In earlier segments of this thread, we discussed how "bringing the outside in" is imperative for companies to keep aware and humble enough to avoid complacency and drive their organizations forward successfully. By contrast, companies in which the context inside the company drowns out voices from the outside tend to attribute their successes to their internal competencies, blame their failures on outside entities, and stagnate their way to failure.

by: John Caddell

In the prior post in this series, I talked about galvanizing the will to change through "bringing the outside in"--learning what customers, the press, influencers--really anyone--thinks about the company, its products, its marketplace, industry, etc.