You’ve got talent

Ms. Kseniya Simonova, a Ukrainian sand animator, uses a light box, music, imagination and sand painting skills to tell stories. Ms. Simonova won the "Ukraine's Got Talent" competition with the impressive performance shown in the video below – a performance that is also described in this article. As her motivation to join the "Ukraine's Got Talent" competition, Kseniya Simonova said – according to this article: "I only entered because there was a child I know who needed an operation and I wanted to help."

I came across the 8½ video, which has been viewed more than 8.8 million times and rated more than 22,000 times with an average rating of 5 stars out of five, via this blog posting by Mitch Ditkoff.

What do you have a talent for?

Tips for online marketing

In this bcg.com July 2009 report titled "The CMOs Dilemma", I read that traditional media outlets – newspapers, magazines, radio, and broadcast television – are losing revenue, readers, listeners, and viewers. I also read that the future of mass marketing and advertising, at least in developed markets, is now just as much in play as the future of the traditional media industry itself. Online search, advertiser microsites, word-of-mouth marketing, social networking, and Twittering all have an important place in the marketing mix.

At a Kalaidos University Forum seminar in Zürich yesterday evening, Mr. Tim Ringel of metapeople, an agency offering online marketing solutions, shared experiences and spoke, for example, about the use of Google AdWords. With Google AdWords, you can advertise a product or service with different keywords, ads, budget and targeting – and monitor the performance of your advertisement(s). Watching the 1½ minute video below, that I came across through this blog posting, I learned that when using Google AdWords, the following things are valuable to keep in mind:
- Be specific about the product or service you offer.
- Include messages that differentiate you from others.
- Make it easy for the customer to buy the product and/or service.




Searching for other online marketing possibilities on the Internet, I came across the following possibilities:

Facebook Advertising
As the interest in Facebook is continuously increasing – which you can, for example, see on Google Trends – Facebook is becoming an increasingly important tool for advertisers. Relevant to mention in this regard is that, compared to many other sites, Facebook has relatively many data about users which makes it easier to target the right potential customers for various products and services. Via this posting, I came across a research report by Borrell Associates. What I find interesting is, not least, that a projected 74% of Facebook’s total advertisement revenue in 2009 will come from local advertisers.


Advertising on YouTube
To learn more about advertising on YouTube, click here. Also, have a look at this 3½ minute Advertiser’s Guide:




Craigslist
Via this blog posting, I came across this article, where I read that Craigslist began in 1995 as a mailing list with announcements of events of interest to technical people, and as more of them began to subscribe, Craig Newmark encouraged readers to post their own news, archived the messages on a Web page, and tried to make sure all the content was legitimate. In the article, I also noticed that, according to Craig Newmark, craigslist works because people are good.


Twitter
I read in this posting that in the first half of 2009, Dell Outlet earned $1 million in sales from customers who came to the site from Twitter. Also, according to the posting, Dell earned another $1 million from people who clicked from Twitter to Dell Outlet to Dell.com and made a purchase there. I noticed, by the way, that Dell Outlet has more than 1.4 million followers on Twitter. At the time the posting, I refer to above was published, i.e. June 12, 2009, Dell outlet had, according to the article, 624,000 followers. In this article, I read about ad.ly, an in-stream advertising platform that matches top-tier Twitter publishers with top-tier brands. Ad.ly enables Twitter publishers to make money from the content they produce on Twitter by sending one Tweet every day from advertisers that they approve. Another solution is IZEA that works with sponsored conversations. A sponsored conversation is a social media marketing technique in which brands provide financial or material compensation to bloggers in exchange for posting social media content about a product, service or website on their blog.


Reading this report by eMarketer, which I came across through this LinkShareBLOG posting, I learned that social shopping is becoming more important to retailers. According to this study, the Inc. 500, a list of the fastest-growing private U.S. companies compiled annually by Inc. Magazine, recognize the importance of, expand their familiarity with, and increase their usage of social media. On page 66 of the book Online Marketing: a customer-led approach, I learned that classic response models such as AIDA and the Lavidge and Steiner’s Hierarchy of Response, illustrated in figure 1 of this paper, are still relevant communication tools when planning online campaigns to drive traffic through the buying process.

To which degree do you act responsibly?

"Sustainability is not an option, sustainability is a must."

We need to think about sustainability as innovation – not as compliance and regulation, Mr. C.K. Prahalad, the World’s # 1 business thinker also says in this video, from which the quote above is. An identical message comes from Towers Perrin. In its Global Workforce Study, Towers Perrin found that Corporate Social Responsibility, which can range from “going green” to supporting local charities, is the 3rd most important driver of employee engagement overall. Searching for information about companies that act responsibly, I came across, for example, Campbell Soup Company, Pictet & Cie, and MyC4.



Campbell Soup Company
Reading this Knowledge@Wharton Article, I learned that, by far, the easiest "sell" for Corporate Social Responsibility remains environmentally based improvements to operations, because they can be shown to save money for a company. According to Mr. Dave Stangis, Campbell's vice president of corporate social responsibility (CSR), sustainable packaging for frozen food, condensed soup and cracker cartons is expected to save Campbell more than 500,000 pounds of packaging materials and almost $1.5 million. In addition, a freight optimization program is designed to eliminate more than 1,700 trucks in the Campbell network and save more than 225,000 gallons of fuel.



Pictet & Cie
Recently, I learned about the Prix Pictet, a price which is sponsored by the Geneva private bank Pictet & Cie. I read here that the Prix Pictet is the world’s first prize dedicated to photography and sustainability. It has the following mandate: To use the power of photography to communicate crucial messages to a global audience. The goal: Art of the highest order, applied to the immense social and environmental threats of the new millennium. Glancing through the shortlist 2009, I stumpled, for example, upon the photos of Ed Kashi titled "Curse of the Black Gold: 50 Years of Oil in the Niger Delta". By the way, did you know that 80% of Nigeria’s revenues come from oil production – and that only 40% of Nigeria's population has access to electricity? And for those with access to electricity, it's available just 4-8 hours per day. I read that in this Knowledge@Wharton article.


MyC4
In this 4 minute video, Mr. Tim Wang of MyC4, an online marketplace that connects you directly with African entrepreneurs, who lack capital to develop their businesses, asks why Corporate Social Responsibility should be something that is reserved for companies. Mr. Wang mentions that he thinks everybody should be involved. For EUR 5, you can – through MyC4 – play an important role in getting the businesses of African entrepreneurs to flourish. To watch a 3 minute guide about how to invest on MyC4, click here.


At a Kalaidos University Forum seminar today, Ms. Marcella Linn explained, for example, that people can get involved not only by donating money – but also by assisting with knowledge as well as, for example, helping out do practical volunteering work.


During my search for information about how individuals, i.e. you and I, can get involved in acting more responsibly towards the environment and towards our fellow world citizens, I came across these 4 examples:


Example # 1: SHARE FOR SMILES
Via brainfloor.com, an open innovation platform that I encourage you to try out, I came across SHARE FOR SMILES. SHARE FOR SMILES is a non-profit organisation that partners, for example, with the Philipp Lahm Stiftung. One of the initiatives, I read about on the site, is the Africa Calendar 2010, which you can buy by via SHARE FOR SMILES. Buying the calendar you support projects in South Africa, Zambia, Kenya, and Ghana, I read here. You can see the photos in the calendar on Flickr.


Example # 2: Big Warm-up
Via this posting, I came across Big Warm-up, an effort to help make the holiday season warmer for the homeless people in the Boston area. On the site, you can get information about in which stores across the United States of America you can donate a coat and warm a heart.


Example # 3: FixMyStreet
Another interesting initiative to engage people is FixMyStreet, a internet tool through which any citizen can – by reporting a problem using, for example, text and photo – help keep the environment clean.


Example # 4: TIXI
Living in Switzerland, I have experienced that many people help out as volunteers on a variety of occasions and events – thereby helping other people have a good time, i.e. increasing the quality of life. Examples are sports and cultural events. Some time ago, I came across TIXI, an innovative social responsibility initiative. In cars sponsored by, for example, individuals, companies, and foundations, volunteers drive people with disabilities from A to B. The price to get from A to B with TIXI is set at the same level as what is costs going with bus / tram / train.


What do you do to act more responsibly? When you think about this question, consider also what’s behind the things you buy at the supermarket. In this regard, I came across this 30 second movie at buyresponsibly.org.

What does mobility mean to you?

Reflecting on the word mobility, I came to think of, for example, these 4 things:


1. Innovative design of cities making it attractive for people to exercise
As I was helping out in Zürich renew a "Finnenbahn" - a jogging/workout track in the forrest, I came to think about the possibility of designing the centre of cities in ways that make it easy for people to get some exercise. As an example, how about opening up and designing school yards in cities in ways that make it attractive for people at all ages to go there and do a workout? Also, how about designing parks in ways that make it attractive for people to keep fit? Here is some inspiration from a park in China. Via this posting, I became more aware of the fact that, through intelligent design, we can promote more mobility in our everyday lives. In this particular example, surfboard shaped floor graphics are placed right on the moving walkway – thereby making the walkway experience a little bit more fun for kids, whose parents want to use the walkway to move forward.


2. Cars, bicycles, and other means of transportation
On page 14 of this report, I noticed that the number of kilometres driven with various motorized vehicles on roads in Switzerland have increased considerably since 2005. And in this report, I read that the car is the dominant mean of transportation. At events in Zürich in September this year, I discovered various possibilities around mobility – including several environmentally friendly vehicles. I wrote about some my experiences from the mobility week in Zürich in this blog posting.


3. Roads and tracks for people who walk, ride bicycles, drive cars and use other means of transportation to get from A to B
Characteristic about Switzerland, from where I am writing this posting, is, for example, the many mountains – but also that the country is covered with a dense road network, although the topography makes the building of roads quite a challenge. In fact, Switzerland has more than 70,000 km. of roads, I read here. I also noticed that all of them are paved roadways. Still, the users of the roads spent, in total, about 35 million hours waiting in traffic jams in 2005 – about 75% more than in 1995, I read on page 16 of this report. I’m wondering whether the problems with traffic jams and the large waste of time will be reduced in the coming years, as people become more used to, for example, developing, buying, and selling products on the Internet. What do you think? Learning about mobility across Switzerland, I also stumpled upon SwitzerlandMobility. SwitzerlandMobility makes it easy for people to experience Switzerland actively along attractive routes, for example by hiking, cycling, mountain biking, skating, and/or canoeing. I learned that, in particular, cycling and hiking are large successes. To learn more about that, have a look at this 10 minute film.


At a Kalaidos University event today in Zürich, Switzerland, Mr. Jürg Tschopp spoke about the development of SwitzerlandMobility. Mr. Tschopp also showed good photos of, for example, some the beautiful bike routes through Switzerland. Here’s an example from the Jura Route:


During the event, there was an interesting discussion about challenges transporting bicycles with, for example, car, train, bus, and boat. Thinking about how to improve the way bicycles are transported by train, I came across a couple of ideas: How about designing a train wagon to be used for transporting bicycles, for example a wagon with more and bigger doors as well as good bicycle parking spots? That'll make it easier for people to get their bikes in and out of the train as well as park and lock their bikes in the train.


4. Internet tools and mobile devices
Reflecting on the investments made in the development of routes for hiking, cycling, and other activities in Switzerland, I came to think about IT that could make the use of physical infrastructure even more attractive. Using, for example, laptops, mobile phones, mobile broadband, as well as various collaborative technologies / web 2.0 tools, whose quantity and quality have more or less exploded over the past few years, we have not least gotten the possibility of – anytime and anywhere - communicating about virtually anything with anyone.

An interesting technology related to mobility is FixMyStreet, through which anyone can participate in improvement infrastructure and the environment in general. For example, one could imagine that cyclists could report various development possibilities on bicycle routes – thereby improving the quality as well as reducing the costs of maintaining the bicycle routes. Another mobility relevant example is Google Maps. Some time ago, I learned that Google is working on making street view on Google Maps available in places where cars cannot go. Click on each of the links below to watch 3 concrete examples:
- Example # 1: Stonehenge, Britain. 1 minute video.
- Example # 2: Chateau de Versailles, France. 1½ minute video.
- Example # 3: University of Pennsylvania, USA. 1½ minute video.


What does mobility mean to you?

To reach better results, do what feels natural to you

At # 5 of the 12 work-relevant characteristics of online life, which Gary Hamel puts forward in this blog posting, I read this:

Tasks are chosen, not assigned
The Web is an opt-in economy. Whether contributing to a blog, working on an open source project, or sharing advice in a forum, people choose to work on the things that interest them. Everyone is an independent contractor, and everyone scratches their own itch.

In this interesting 10 minute McKinsey Quarterly interview, Mr. Andrew McAfee sends a similar message – referring, for example, to how Wikipedia became a success: As people self selected roles they wanted to play, content they wanted to create, and basically did whatever felt natural to them, they reached much better results.

Mr. McAfee also gives some good advice for management of companies that want to move in this direction. Here are 3 of them:
1. Send signals to people on what is of value to the company.
2. Get out of the way. Let people do things themselves.
3. When you hear about grassroots efforts, support these efforts financially.

Innovation is everyone's job

Innovate like Google

Watching this conversation between Tom Davenport and Paul Michelman, I came to think about this extract from page 120 the book "The Future of Management" by Gary Hamel: “Build a “just try it” culture – emphasize “test and learn” instead of “plan and execute”."

Thinking about the companies, you work for, what is more important: “Test and learn” or “plan and execute”? If you have the possibility, please explain why.

Top 100 Tools for Learning 2009

Compiled by Jane Hart, you’ll find the top 100 tools for learning 2009 in the slideshow below. The top 5 tools are:

# 1: Twitter.
# 2: Delicious.
# 3: YouTube.
# 4: Google Reader.
# 5: Google Docs.

Top 100 Tools for Learning 2009

View more documents from Jane Hart.

Values of the internet and values of most companies

Towards the end of this interesting blog posting by Gary Hamel, I read this:

"At the heart of the Web is a bundle of social values that stands in stark contrast to the values that predominate in most companies. Community, transparency, freedom, meritocracy, openness and collaboration - this is the fundamental ethos of the web. Within the beige precincts of corporate-dom, the values of control, discipline, accountability, reliability and predictability reign supreme. Twenty-first century organizations must amalgamate all of these values. Only then will they be able to deliver the goods day-after-day with penny-pinching efficiency while showing their heels to the winds of change."

Earlier in the posting, I also read this: "Standardization, specialization, hierarchy, goal alignment and control are great principles, but they’re toxic to adaptability."

For information about problems of hierarchically organized companies, have a look at this slideshow. Also, to get information about different ways of organizing, stop by at this slideshow.

My question to you
To which degree is the behaviour of people you work with based on the values of the Internet - for example openness and collaboration?

How generous is the company you work for?

I came across this 19 second video with Jeff Jarvis through this blog posting. When you think about a company you work for, how generous would you say that the people working for the company are?

To which degree do you share work you do, before you think it is perfect?

Through this blog posting by Jeff Jarvis, I came across this 1½ minute video during which Mr. Jarvis touches upon an issue that I find important. Admitting that I have a tendency, myself, to strive for perfection – and also sometimes “fight with myself” regarding how perfect something, that I do, should be before launching it / putting it out / sharing it, the message by Mr. Jarvis had an influence on me.

How about yourself? To which degree do you share work you do, before you think it is perfect? To which degree do you open up to improvement, ideas, suggestions, lessons?

20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall

The video below is a 2½ minute message by Mr. José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission. Watch also this 5½ minute video during which Mr. Barroso encourages us all to remove the remaining walls, for example the walls of protectionism.

To offer a good experience, surprise people positively

Surprising people positively is a good way of offering a good experience. Here’s a proof of that. I came across the video via this blog posting.

When you did you surprise people positively last time? What did you do?

How we educate and how we think about education

To get the full value of this 3 minute Sketchcast, please turn on your loudspeakers.

What is the company purpose?

What is the company purpose?

View more documents from Frank Calberg Services.

Hey Jude

Via this blog posting, I came across this innovative flowchart of the great Beatles song Hey Jude which several extraordinary artists performed at the Royal Albert Hall.

What do you need to get into “flow” in your working life?

Via a Twitter update by Larry Ferlazzo, I came across this 2 minute audio about flow.

What do you need to get into flow in your working life?

To learn, do you think people should create or reproduce knowledge?

As a part of a mini survey, I did during a seminar, I held, I asked the eight participants the following question:

To learn, do you think that
A. people should create knowledge, or that
B. people should reproduce knowledge?

I think it is worth noting that everyone chose A. In this regard, I’d like to ask you to which degree you create knowledge during the education you’re taking?