How good are you at listening?

Listening to John T. Chambers of Cisco, I learned, for example, these 5 things:

1. The next generation of organization structures is built on social networking.

2. As a leader you need to be very good at communicating. The most important is to be good at listening.

3. Culture is hugely important. A good leader is, in the way he/she leads, an example of the culture.

4. Cisco does not focus on competition at all. When you think about setting the strategy off your competitors, at a minimum you are 2 years behind.

5. Video is the next voice. Video will constitute 90 – 95% of the network loads in the future.

Reinvent things constantly

Via a tweet by Debashish Bramha, I came across this 3 minute video with Arianna Huffington. Listening to Ms. Huffington, I learned, for example, that we need to constantly reinvent things. I also learned that more and more people want to participate in the production of news.

Collaborative Consumption

Via this tweet by Paul Hobcraft, I came across this talk by Rachel Botsman about collaborative consumption. Listening to Ms. Botsman, I learned, for example, that the first farmers’ market in the UK was formed in 1997.

Collaborative Consumption - Rachel Botsman from NESTA UK on Vimeo.

Citroën C4 and bicycles

Via this posting, I came across the 1 minute commercial below for the Citröen C4. I find the idea of combining cars and bicycles interesting. For inputs on redefining the rules in transportation, have a look at this presentation.

Make streets of a city attractive for people

Do you want an attractive city? Start by making streets attractive. That is a key message of Charles Landry, I read in this article. Here are a couple of extracts: 

“And just as talent is drawn to hubs and the patterns of links they enable, so are hubs in essence a great collection of streets. For a hub to succeed at drawing the best people and unleashing their talents, therefore, its collection of streets must be aspirational, world-beating, irresistible - a draw. London, he tells his audience, cannot maintain its status in the first rank of the world’s hubs unless it becomes more skillful and intentional about managing and improving the experience that its streets provide.”  

“If we feel at home in the streets, we will feel at home in the local culture, and if we feel at home in the culture, we will aspire to participate by investing our time or money in its precincts.”

Here are some inputs on bicycle friendly cities:

Bicycle Friendly Cities

Top 100 tools for learning 2010

During 2010, 545 learning professionals from around the world shared their top 10 tools for learning. From these lists, Jane Hart compiled the Top 100 tools for learning 2010 list. As in 2009, Twitter tops the list this year. Twitter is followed by YouTube and Google Docs.

Top100 Tools  for Learning 2010

View more presentations from Jane Hart.

Can you imagine a world without countries? Part 2

In a previous posting, I asked if you can imagine a world without countries. Listening to Peter Sondergaard of Gartner talk, I learned that if Facebook and Twitter were countries, they would be # 3 and # 7 respectively. Reflecting on this, I was wondering to what extent it should be possible for the individual global citizen to participate - in one or more countries - in some votes / referendums online, for example using the “like” button? What’s your view?

How good are you at being a follower?

Via this posting by Tyge Mortensen, I came across this 3 minute video. Watching the video, I learned, for example, that being a first follower is an underappreciated form of leadership. In fact, there is no movement without the first follower. The role of the first follower is a crucial role. He or she has the courage to stand up and join a lone nut who is doing something great. The first follower publicly shows everyone else how to follow - and transforms the lone nut into a leader. If the leader is the flint, the first follower is the spark that really makes the fire.

How good are you at being a follower?

Help people do, what they want to do, better

At the start of part 2, embedded below, of a talk that Jeff Jarvis held in Frankfurt, Mr. Jarvis quotes Mark Zuckerberg for responding “you can’t” to a question on how to create a community. Jeff Jarvis explains that Mr. Zuckerberg elaborated on his answer by saying that it is the wrong question to ask. Communities already exist. People are already doing what they want to do. The question you should be asking is “How do you help them do, what they want to, do better?”. According to Jeff Jarvis, Marc Zuckerberg’s prescription for this is giving people elegant organization. All 3 parts of Jeff Jarvis’ talk are published in this blog posting of Mr. Jarvis.

7 skills students need for their future

Via this swissmiss posting, I came across this 29 minute talk below by Tony Wagner. Mr. Wagner speaks about 7 skills that students need to be successful in life:

# 1: Critical thinking and problem solving

# 2: Collaboration across networks and leading by influence

Tony Wagner mentions, for example, the importance of understanding cultural differences. Mr. Wagner also mentions that command-and-control management is collapsing.

# 3: Agility and adaptability

# 4: Initiative and entrepreneurialism

# 5: Effective oral and written communication

# 6: Accessing and analyzing information

In this regard, Mr. Wagner mentions that the amount of information that is available to us is increasing exponentially. This makes the ability to, for example, do an effective search on the internet and find out what information is important, essential.

# 7: Curiosity and imagination

How do you develop your creative skills?

Speaking, at about minute 13, about an experience he had, where he observed students not being actively engaged in independent learning, Mr. Wagner refers to a comment by a superintendent who said this: 

“The problem is not that these are bad teachers. They are some of the best. The problem is us. They are doing exactly what we have asked them to do which is teach to the test.”

Reflecting on the comment of the superintendent that Mr. Wagner refers to, I would like to ask you what your ideas are for superintendents, who have realized that they, themselves, are the problem? As you see it, what exactly should administrators do differently? Thanks very much in advance for your feedback.

As Mr. Wagner, towards the end of his interesting talk, speaks about how the new generation learns, he focuses on the new generation’s use of the Internet – for example to extend friendships, learn through exploring, and as a tool for self expression. In this regard, I’d like to share this presentation with you about 11 advantages of using a blog for teaching.

Can you imagine a world without countries?

Via this jp.dk article, I came across the song Imagine by John Lennon. Mr. Lennon mentions, for example, this: “Imagine there’s no countries”.

Can you imagine a world without countries?

How you feel depends on how others feel

Via 

Avoid saying ”yes, but”

In this 5½ video, Vineet Nayar mentions that he thinks there are 3 kinds of people in any organization:

1. Transformers

People who, for example, search for new ideas and spread positive energy. They are catalysts for change.

2. Lost souls

People who think that everything is bad.

3. Fence-sitters

These people are the “yes, but” managers. They can neither make up their minds to be transformers nor lost souls. Each of these people has the ability to be a transformer and need to wake up the transformer in them. Mr. Nayar mentions that once you step into the transformer zone, life is beautiful – very, very beautiful.

Listening to Mr. Nayar, I also came to think about reasons why people resist change. Here are 5 reasons. 

How important are titles for you?

Listening to the conversation below between Terri Kelly and Gary Hamel, I heard Ms. Kelly say the following:

At W.L. Gore & Associates, you go to the person you need to go to in order to get something done. They do not want hierarchies or command-and-control management.

At W.L. Gore & Associates, they resist titles. The whole notion of a title puts you in a box. And worse, it puts you in a position where you have assumed authority and can command.

People, who work for W.L. Gore & Associates, call themselves associates. They self commit to what they want to work on. There is no boss telling them what to do.

Leaders, who work for W.L. Gore & Associates, are there because they have followers. In other words, leaders are not appointed. People, who work for W.L. Gore & Associates, decide who the leaders will be.

Bill Gore, the company’s founder, was motivated by bringing innovative products to the market. Mr. Gore was influenced by Douglas McGregor and Abraham Maslow. Bill Gore knew that if you can’t encourage collaboration and sharing of knowledge, you are not going to get innovation.