Tag: tipping point

Latest read: The Black Swan

Post author By Don Kasprzak
Post date May 16, 2008

There are interesting lessons in The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable. Learn to look for trends, events and all the gems in life that seem hidden, out of place, under the table and around corners?
At 400 pages its no quick read but Taleb has presented his research by sharing stories and analysis about randomness in his own life. Taleb has suggested that technology and history is primarily driven by Black Swans.

There are many lessons for IT leaders when it comes to Black Swans. The BBC wrote an interesting article about how black swans in the area of information technology enterprise systems. One in six big IT projects go over-budget by an average of 200% Why? Once you see his point of view it will be much easier to notice black swans within your organization. His book’s takeaway? Unexpected and rare events and even novel ideas have a huge impact on the world.

Tags business, change, improbable, Innovation, knowledge, randomness, rare events, Reading, taleb, The Black Swan, tipping point, trends

Education Network Reading Technology

Latest read: Linked

The internet and the global economy are tied together by a series of network hubs, or links as explained by Albert-Lasziò Barabàsi’s book Linked: How Everything Is Connected to Everything Else and What It Means.

The knowledge economy is really the network economy and his book is a good read to understand how networks, both physical and human are connecting everything – everyday – everywhere….in just 15 links (his reference for chapters) and how business, education, government and society can benefit by taking a closer look at how our linked world is really connected.

Ever play the game six degrees of Kevin Bacon? On the internet, links to every document are just nineteen links as noted by Lasziò Barabàsi, a Professor of Physics at the University of Notre Dame.

You can view this book as a more technical, networked version of Malcolm Gladwell‘s outstanding book The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference. Gladwell explains how small events can transform people, trends and events. Its a great read for anyone looking to expand their understanding of how our linked world is tied together in unique ways.

I was interested to learn how Laszio Barabasi’s approach to power grids (Miami power failure) and the scale approach to al Qaeda all focus on networks and power hubs as true, real-world approaches to solving global problems. This book will make you look at your organization, mission and networking opportunities (social) in a new more focused perspective.

Tags barabasi, Education, Globalization, knowledge economy, Linked, malcolm gladwell, Network, Physics, Reading, tipping point, trends

Education Globalization Innovation Reading Technology

Latest read: Made to Stick

What book would be a perfect follow up to The Tipping Point and Blink by Malcolm Gladwell? To prove timing is everything I read Dan and Chip Heath’s new release: Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die. The book’s authors acknowledge that their book complements Gladwell’s The Tipping Point by identifying “traits” necessary to make your ideas ‘sticky’ with your intended audience.
Written by brothers Chip and Dan Heath they share experiences and research in finding ideas that stick. Chip is professor of Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. Dan is a consultant to Duke University’s Corporate Education program.

Made to Stick provides wonderful insight to learn how powerful ideas succeed in the face of big obstacles (and people) especially in a stale environment. Take Subway’s series of commercials featuring Jared for example.

Originally passed by PR firms, Jared’s story was brought to life by the Subway store manager where Jared ate while attending Indiana University. The ad campaign was eventually created pro-bono by a firm thinking they would fail. Even Subway’s PR firm did not support this idea. Chip and Dan prove not only how wrong they were, but how powerful the idea has turned out to be for Subway.

Tags blink, chip heath, Dan Heath, Education, knowledge, made to stick, Reading, research, stanford, sticky, TED, tipping point, trends

Education Globalization Network OpenSource Reading Technology

Latest read: Wikinomics

Want to learn where a faster, wireless internet and robust web technology is moving all of us? Read Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything to get a real-world understanding of the impact of YouTube, Wikipedia, Flickr, MySpace, Linux, SecondLife and InnoCentive.
This is a true paradigm shift. Changes have occurred in business and society regarding mass collaboration and the internet. I know many people do not like change but we live in exciting new times.

How has technology transformed our world? Consider ABC Television has been around for almost 60 years. The first television broadcast was in 1948. If you total all the video (24/7) shown on ABC since 1948 — just over 500,000 hours. YouTube has produced more hours of content in just the past 6 months.

The colonial era approach to education will never should not be continued. When will our educational systems catch up with the world? The longer we stand on the sidelines and watch countries including India and China establish educational models around the internet-enabled world, the longer our students will not be able to compete when they enter the global marketplace.

Some states are making that change. Michigan’s virtual schools permit students to study the Chinese language via the internet. Their instructor lives in China. It started when choices for foreign language were no longer acceptable. What economic impact does French or German have in contrast to Chinese and Hindi for a student’s future? Its safe to say French economic power has been on the decline since World War I. Lets give our students the best opportunities to succeed in our country’s future.

In higher education there are examples of how ideas fall short. Teacher are often unaware of how to get their students to connect their idea/project with a engineer, on-demand book publisher or patent attorney in today’s global marketplace. Yes patent attorney. But it may be due to the colonial era approach to educational reform. Too often educators look inward (or to peer groups) and believe if they change internal measurements, students will benefit. Wikinomics proves this to be another colonial era step in the wrong direction.

Tags business, change, culture, don tapscott, Globalization, ideagoreas, Innovation, knowledge, New Alexandrians, tipping point, trends, wikinomics

Education Globalization Reading Technology

Latest read: Naked Conversations

Post author By Don Kasprzak
Post date April 21, 2007

With a lot of anticipation I read Robert Scoble’s Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers.

naked conversations

For some time I had been skimming his blog Scoblizer since he became Microsoft’s first official blogger and rose to instant superstar.

As if that ‘permission’ by Microsoft made blogging okay for Corporate America. While his feed is loaded in my NetNewsWire this book is really really entry level…or if you have not read any book about blogging.

While many on Amazon rave about it (maybe my expectations are too high) it really is a rehash of plain – common – sense approaches to having honest communication or “chats” via a blog.

Maybe for the mid-size corporation looking to communicate to their customers…but don’t good companies talk to their customers already?

Tags blogging, business, change, culture, Naked Conversations, Scoble, Scoblizer, tipping point, trends