Wednesday, April 29, 2009

President Barack Obama: The first 100 days | World news | guardian.co.uk

President Barack Obama: The first 100 days World news guardian.co.uk

Very cool!!!

Obama's first 100 days - In photo's - with small narrative against each. A Historic photo album if ever there was one, now for the next 100!

JFDI!! Luke Johnson - Stop making excuses and get started

Following the writting of Luke is worth the FT subscription alone:

".........But 2009 is, in fact, a great time to fail........" “..........Our greatest glory lies not in never failing, but in rising every time we fail...........” "...........There is never a perfect time to begin the journey. But if you have ambition and are willing to apply the effort, stop making excuses – get out there and start battling."
FT.com / Columnists / Luke Johnson - Stop making excuses and get started

"First on the list tends to be a lack of capital." ".....Other situations may need some funding, but often less than founders think"

"A second imagined obstacle is income: people get addicted to a nice safe salary as an employee, and are unwilling to give it up for the uncertainties of the entrepreneurial life."

"A third reason is the idea: too many wannabe entrepreneurs are waiting for a breakthrough concept to arrive one day, fully formed and ready to launch. But capitalism is not like that. "

"A fourth reason is risk aversion. Too many people fear failure more than they want to win. Of course, your start-up might prove a vain attempt at the prize, so you may lose money, time and pride. But 2009 is, in fact, a great time to fail. All around us companies and institutions are going wrong, including many of the world’s largest and grandest. Everyone who has achieved much has suffered setbacks. And you know what? No one really notices or cares. As Confucius said: “Our greatest glory lies not in never failing, but in rising every time we fail.”"

"...........There is never a perfect time to begin the journey. But if you have ambition and are willing to apply the effort, stop making excuses – get out there and start battling."

JFDI!!!!
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a2741750-3409-11de-9eea-00144feabdc0.html

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

A crash course in emerging technologies

Think differently, the world is changing fast and within this one generation even more rapid change is still to come: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/844f5fa0-2d74-11de-9eba-00144feabdc0.html

http://singularityu.org/blog/

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8b162dfc-f168-11dd-8790-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1



Monday, April 27, 2009

Charles Leadbeater on innovation | Video on TED.com

Charles Leadbeater on innovation Video on TED.com: "Charles Leadbeater: The rise of the amateur professional"

"want to do things because they love it..........and they do it well......." corporate institutionalised thinking could never have led to the "mountain bike" or "Rap music" as Leadbeater explains!!!

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Independents will always have their day

Luke Johnson (Chairman Channel4) - Indie business - SPOT ON!!
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b64a5aee-2e84-11de-b7d3-00144feabdc0,dwp_uuid=782015c4-f2e3-11dd-abe6-0000779fd2ac.html

Less is more. small is beautiful:

".........These imaginative groups provide diversity, creativity and an alternative perspective rare in vertically integrated organisations that make most of their own content. New ideas tend to flourish best in freewheeling environments, not in a bureaucracy – defined by Balzac as a “giant mechanism operated by pygmies”..............."

".........Motivation is gradually diluted as managerialism takes over from seat-of-the-pants risk-taking. Progress is about replication rather than adventure. Early on, money tends to be relevant only as a means of starting the project, rather than as an end in itself. But when banks and outside shareholders get involved, the pressures to perform mount – so the distinctive features fade, to be replaced by the treadmill of financial returns. This is an almost inevitable sequence................"

"..........They punch above their weight in terms of innovation and customer service, and force big players to up their game. In these uncertain times, there is every reason to believe – in spite of the relentless march of globalisation – that the indies of the world will continue to thrive........................"

Just like in the music industry with the emergent indie bands, real new talent in the face of commercial rock and pop!!

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

All our children are too important

The UK needs to think about this, knowing the UK is a great place to bring up kids as I do and have done we still need to do much better for less fortunate kids and parents http://is.gd/tBmY

Monday, April 20, 2009

Put £100,000 into 10,000 startups - not £10m into 100!

What would you do to accelerate entrepreneurs:
http://the-accelerator.blogspot.com/2009/04/to-alistair-darling-lord-drayson-open.html

Short term vs Long term may be the issue!!

Messages of doom don’t mean the end of the world

........"“Absolute honesty wins every time,”".........

FT.com / Business Life / Entrepreneurship - Messages of doom don’t mean the end of the world:

..........“The biggest mistake entrepreneurs tend to make is spending too much time on the factual content of their message and not enough time on the way they tell it,” he explains. “Often it’s the tone of the message that people will read the most into.”.......

........She admits that she underestimated the impact of the redundancies on the survivors. Owen stresses that she made deep enough cuts to ensure that she would not have to do it again in the foreseeable future, but admits that it is difficult to make people believe this.

Friday, April 17, 2009

A neat picture to Twitter!

http://applicant.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/tweetcurrency1.jpg

Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement Address

Be inspired, its inside you!

Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement Address:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1R-jKKp3NA

Birth, Love and Loss, Death!

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

QMethodology: Integrating Knowledge and Practice to Advance Human Dignity

In searching the road for QMethodology Dr.Fran.M shared this with me:

" Ockwell, David G. (2008). “Opening up” policy to reflexive appraisal: a role for Q Methodology? A case study of fire management in Cape York, Australia. Policy Sciences, 41(4), 263–292. Abstract: Recent decades have witnessed increasing attention in theory and practice to participatory approaches to policy appraisal, in part due to the potential of such approaches to facilitate reflexive policy appraisal. It has been observed, however, that in practice these approaches are often as prone as traditional, non-participatory appraisal techniques to being limited in the extent to which that can achieve reflexivity, e.g., due to the influence of interests and power and problems of representation. This article explores the extent to which Q methodology, or “Q”, can play a role in “opening up” (Stirling, Science, Technology & Human Values, 33, 262–294, 2008) policy to reflexive appraisal. A Q study of fire management discourses in Cape York, northern Australia is presented which exposes the existence of four key discourses in the region: discourse A—rational fire management; discourse B—fire-free conservation; discourse C—pragmatic, locally controlled burning; and discourse D—indigenous controlled land management. At present only discourses A and C are reflected in policy. Appraising existing policy on the basis of the different constructions articulated by discourses B and D of the purpose of and practices involved in fire management, is successful in opening up existing policy to reflexive appraisal. In the face of considerable scientific uncertainty as to the ecological impacts of different burning regimes in northern Australia, this process of opening up has important potential for appraising the social desirability of existing policy and practice in the region. This analysis provides a practical demonstration of the wider potential of Q methodology in opening up other important contemporary policy issues to reflexive appraisal. It also provides the basis for recommending the expansion of participatory processes for facilitating stakeholder engagement in fire management policy and practice in Cape York. "

Also as a seperate artical but related and linked in the content of these links shown:

Policy Sciences: "(1) social process, which is mapped in terms of participants, perspectives, situations, base values, strategies, outcomes and effects, with values (power, wealth, enlightenment, skill, rectitude, respect, well-being, and affection) being the key elements in understanding participants’ behaviors and interactions; (2) decision process, which is mapped in terms of seven functions—intelligence, promotion, prescription, invocation, application, termination, and appraisal; and (3) problem orientation, which comprises the intellectual tasks of clarifying goals, describing trends, analyzing conditions, projecting developments, and inventing, evaluating, and selecting alternatives."
http://www.springer.com/social+sciences/political+science/journal/11077

NOTE: I wonder..............
How is subjective judgement, opinion and data blended into the objective process all to regularly needed/applied as the traditional business method. If you look at any board or any team, there may be a common strategy or plan but there will be a strong subjective element by which individuals judge or see those plans being acted upon to deliver their hoped for future outcome. If all strategies and plans were purely objective then they would always succeed and of course they too often dont. The nature of that "subjective" component means vast difference and gaps open up in subjective judgment, only with careful leadership and management can "alignment" be gained to ensure success. This eaither helps proactively or reactively but it will help in advance of the outcome arriving. As all to often that alignment doesnt happen, is it something like QMethodology applied to the board, the shop floor team or throughout a whole organisation or community that real lasting improvements for the future can be found?! Im interested in any comments on this please!!!
Reference:
http://www.qmethod.org/about.php
http://www.qmethodology.net/index.php?page=1&year=2005

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q_methodology

http://hbr.harvardbusiness.org/web/tools/2009/03/what-do-customers-really-want?cm_mmc=npv-_-listserv-_-March_2009-_-HBRSA

Am I Fit for Startups - the truth is fun!!

innonate - Am I Fit for Startups? Before I went to sleep a...
"..........Before I went to sleep a few nights ago, I sketched this out. It’s a test anyone has to pass before I want to work with them on a startup. When people pass the test, it makes me excited beyond belief. When someone doesn’t, I can care less about them. They’re furniture........."
http://innonate.tumblr.com/post/96524026/am-i-fit-for-startups-before-i-went-to-sleep-a

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Sweet success - TheSite.org

A steady measured approach that is right for some!
Sweet success - TheSite.org: "To me it's not really about making money. I really enjoy the creative process of coming up with an idea and then turning that into a real product. You should go into business with the attitude that you're looking for an adventure and want to have fun, but also accept that it may not succeed. When something fails at the first hurdle a lot of people give up. It takes a long time to get a business off the ground and you have to be realistic that it might not work at all. If it does fail you can always come up with something else and try again."

Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Be careful what you wish for!!

FT.com / Business Life / Entrepreneurship - When an angel could turn out to be a devil in disguise: "'Any entrepreneur should be cautious with regards to taking funding when you are not entering into what I would describe as a partnership. Any investment we would do is of our making: investment into a team to take a project forward. If it is not going to be a partnership, you have to question it."

Monday, April 06, 2009

An introduction to global warming impacts

This site is worth browsing just to allow the chart shown to focus the mind a little:
http://climateprogress.org/2009/03/22/an-introduction-to-global-warming-impacts-hell-and-high-water/

Thursday, April 02, 2009

g20 PM urges values-based rules for economy | Number10.gov.uk

Watching the outcomes of the next 6 weeks, 6 months and 6 years will be very interesting:

PM urges values-based rules for economy Number10.gov.uk: "“Shared global rules founded on shared global values.”"

also with: "THE FIVE TESTS"
increasing resources to international economies; cleaning up the banking system; enabling a resumption of economic growth; encouraging global trade and fighting protectionism; and ensuring a recovery that is sustainable and based on low-carbon economies.
http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page18897

Is entrepreneurial leadership the way out of global recession? - 19 Mar 2009

Is entrepreneurial leadership the way out of global recession? - 19 Mar 2009:

Pointing to the need for entrepreneurs in large companies (my note: otherwise in future dont allow any large company (bank, car mfg, food retailer/mfg) to become too big to fail for reasons of mkt chaos, size of pension scheme, impact on global competitiveness etc etc)

"In such uncertain times as these, large organisations need to be as flexible as possible, ready to change and develop rapidly to accommodate the shifting needs of their customers and the market as a whole. Yet many only pay lip-service to 'intrapreneurship' the internal version of classic entrepreneurship, or actively stifle it, fearing a loss of control. Recognising that 'intrapreneurs' often face an even wider range of challenges than their independent counterparts, professor Veronique Bouchard, who teaches on our Global Entrepreneurship Programme, has identified 10 pitfalls that intrapreneurial leaders should seek to avoid:


1.Thinking and acting like an independent entrepreneur
2.Counting on generous budgets, unlimited help and general goodwill
3.Relying on a single powerful sponsor
4.Taking too much notice (or no notice at all) of an immediate superior
5.Making a project visible too early
6.Concentrating on technical issues at the expense of the business plan
7.Ignoring similar or competing projects within the organisation
8.Postponing 'doing the numbers'
9.Failing to clarify expected rewards in case of success
10.Identifying too closely with a project

Of course the more cynical reader may doubt how much place entrepreneurial leadership has in the post sub-prime world. Is it not the route, they may ask, to the sort of ill-disciplined freedom of action that led us into the current crisis in the first place? In reply to this I would assert that entrepreneurship is not about removing all restrictions and ignoring the inherent dangers of unfettered risk. The true entrepreneurial leader enables and empowers"

Interesting!! http://www.trainingzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=195855&d=680&h=608&f=626&dateformat=%25e-%25h-%25y

Google to venture into start-ups

It will be interesting to see if Google can be more successful than most VC's with their portfolio, if they come up with one winner anywhere near as successful as they are it will be interesting. I will keep my eye on this till 2020.

BBC NEWS Technology Google to venture into start-ups: "'Entrepreneurism is the antithesis of monopoly. It is a case of a thousands flowers blooming. It is a good time to be investing and a good time to build companies,'

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

thingamy: Goodbye VCs, it's been a pleasure

thingamy: Goodbye VCs, it's been a pleasure: "And the customer is the start-up, the VC is the vehicle and the investor is the passenger. The passengers are always much better off if the driver keeps his eyes peeled on the road."

social venture capital for the developing world

Developing entrepreneurship among the world's poorest - The McKinsey Quarterly - Developing entrepreneurship among the world’s poor - Nonprofit - Philanthropy: "Developing entrepreneurship among the world’s poorest
Acumen Fund founder and CEO Jacqueline Novogratz shares stories of social-sector entrepreneurship in an excerpt from her new book, The Blue Sweater. A video interview with the author takes you behind the book. Developing entrepreneurship among the world’s poorest
Acumen Fund founder and CEO Jacqueline Novogratz shares stories of social-sector entrepreneurship in an excerpt from her new book, The Blue Sweater. A video interview with the author takes you behind the book."

Accidental entrepreneurs

FT.com / Business Life / Entrepreneurship - Accidental entrepreneurs: "Accidental entrepreneurs"

As Gordon Moore, the co-founder of Intel, said: “There is such a thing as a natural-born entrepreneur...But the accidental entrepreneur like me has to fall into the opportunity or be pushed into it.”