Categories
Design Education Innovation Reading

Chapter review: Switch

Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard looks to be another great read from Chip and Dan Heath who wrote Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die. It was quickly listed as one of the top 100 business books of 2007….I couldn’t agree more.   They launched a website dedicated to the lessons of Made to Stick and continued their book’s conversations online.

In mid 2009 it was announced Chip and Dan were finishing a follow up book Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard scheduled to be released February 16 2010 and have also launched a new website supporting both Switch and Made to Stick plus their Fast Company column and speaking engagements.
–Hint:  grab their RSS feed to stay ontop of their latest work.

Here is my review of their opening chapter.  Exactly how do we change?  How do individuals, organizations and societies change in a world of rapid news, technology and fast food?  Better understood its not only old dogs that don’t change but individuals, small groups and large complex organizations.

The Heath Brothers introduce fundamental research to introduce a three-step framework for identifying the types of change necessary for humans to not only believe in but actually accept.  Easier said than done right?

Welcome human psychology to the new evaluation of both rational and emotional sides of our brains.  This is where Chip and Dan really shined in Made to Stick!

Categories
Design Education Globalization Innovation Network Reading Technology

Latest read: America Alone

Mark Steyn has written a clever book America Alone: The End of the World As We Know It. In a post 9/11 world America, according to Steyn must “go it alone” against the impact Muslims have in today’s world.  A lot of his knowledge is coming from outside the mainstream of US media organizations and many will be surprised to learn the real state of affairs between a fading Anglo-America and a rising Muslim world.

America AloneSteyn begins simply with demography as the basis for his argument that Islam will outgrow the Anglo-American world.  The American birth rate is 2.4 while Muslim countries like Pakistan have a birth rate of 4.5 and given time some countries like England and Spain which have rates under 1.5 will simply fall off the earth in the next century.

He points out that eastern European countries like Russia have abortion rates as high as 70%, and acknowledges that countries are killing themselves in the long run while Muslims are set to flourish for the next two to three generations.

At the same time the medium age in some parts of the Muslim world is just 15.  Steyn argues that this very young minority will grow to see democratic countries and institutions will shift to the law and culture of Islam.

Is the Muslim world gaining political strength in a post 9/11 world?  Steyn writes about how the growth of Muslim populations in Europe still lead to isolation, not assimilation in their Anglo-countries and slowly over time how Governments have begun to accommodate their growing communities.  Want proof?

lockerbee
The recent release of Abdelbeset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi the Lockerbie bomber made headlines around the world. Freed from jail by Scotland al Megrahi returned home to Libya a hero.  Was it all for cheap oil?  The US Government condemned this release.  But who is holding power here?

Tags: America Alone, Mark Steyn, education, Muslim, Demography, culture, trends

Categories
Design Education Globalization Milwaukee Network OpenSource Reading Technology TED

Latest read: The Starfish and the Spider

Rod Beckstrom’s The Starfish and the Spider reminded me of his very insightful presentation at the 2007 The Next Web Conference about organizations. Two types will define or break you in a Web2.0 world.
the starfish and the spiderAn enjoyable, easy read that further suggests leaderless organizations can fuel dramatic change within organization large and small.

Beckstrom, who just spoke at the 2008 TED conference presents content supporting how organizations can flourish when tightly controlled groups embrace the starfish effect.

He notes how Al-qaeda has embraced this type of leaderless organization and it becomes very obvious to any reader the last five years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq.

This book actually complimented my previous read, The Wisdom of Crowds (review here).

The Starfish and the Spider follows the successful work of Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything because both draw upon the power in today’s globalized world to share knowledge — via OpenSource to engage Web2.0 enterprise solutions and corporate blogs to think and more importantly, act independently.

Book website Link