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CLEAR SPACE THINKING - the original - lipscombe.richard@gmail.com
Wednesday, 7 September 2011
Risk profile
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Action networks = success

 

What is your risk profile?  How much risk do you take across your life?  How well is it balanced up?

When things change in our environment it is important for us to re-assess our risk profile. First, we must look at the risks we are taking if we do not change anything.  What debt levels do we have?  How much leverage do we enjoy?  How much risk is now associated with that leverage?  For example, a large mortgage when house prices are falling after a real estate bubble.  Each context will be different.  House prices in your area may be rising but the fact that across the nation they are falling does raise your risk profile.

In 2011 a prudent approach is to say that most of what we see and do today is more complex or complicated than it was 5 years ago.  With complexity comes uncertainty.  Uncertainty lowers your ability to predict accurately.  Thus you need reserves or redundancy built into your budgets - both financial and emotional - if you are to fare well.

We might be best placed if our new risk profile is about 80/20.  That is we have 80% of our financial and emotional assets in safe havens.  To balance that out we will need to have 20% of those same assets in extremely high risk endeavours. 

Looking back 5 years you might see a personal risk spread of 50% in moderate-high risk ventures, 30% high risk endeavours, and 20% in low risk activities. 


Posted by richard-lipscombe at 1:59 PM NZT
Updated: Wednesday, 7 September 2011 2:48 PM NZT
Tuesday, 6 September 2011
Creating digital followers
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Action networks = success

 

Followers are the ultimate digital insiders. Leaders are the ultimate digital outsiders.  The trick is to facilitate insiders while remaining an outsider.  Most digital warriors are insiders not outsiders.  They are followers not leaders.  They know what it takes to get people to follow but they do not know how to create followers.

To create follower you have to surprise and delight them once in a blue moon.  In between times you have to be relevant to their lives.  You can do this by being in tune with their fashion sense, their need for convenience, their ideology, or their sense of belonging with other followers.

To create you band of followers at work or online you all you need do is be suprsing that is be remarkable, then relevant, then remarkable again, then relevant and so on..... 


Posted by richard-lipscombe at 3:11 PM NZT
Followers.
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Action networks = success

 

The digital world brings changes, big changes, to old thinking.  One such change is to the notion of leaders and leadership.  

So much has been writtern about leadership over centuries past.  Ahead the more interesting topic will be followers. It is followers in networks that make the difference.  How many followers do you have on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media? is the question you are most likely to be asked.  No one is too fussed with your leadership or with you as a leader on Facebook or Twitter. What they want to quiz you about is your followers.

In the digital world it is all about the followers.  How do you get them?  What do you do to keep them?  How do they contribute to your enterprise?  What is the key trait, mindset, habit, or ideology that your followers share with each other?  Did you mould the groupthink that is such an integral part of your followers?  What is most relevant and what is deemed to be remarkable to your followers?  Are you their leader or the facilitator of their following fellowship?

Followers not leaders are the key in 2011.....


Posted by richard-lipscombe at 12:16 PM NZT
Updated: Tuesday, 6 September 2011 12:27 PM NZT
Monday, 5 September 2011
Nowhere to hide.
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Action networks = success

 

Ten years ago a colleague warned me about protecting my privacy.  He was paranoid.  He was concerned about who knew what about him and why. But he had reasons to be concerned having lived in a country where revolutionaries had killed all his family.  He was lucky to survive.

Today almost everything about us is known to someone.  If we use computers then we leave a trail of data that builds up our profile.  Should we be worried about this?  I think not but we must all decide what data trails we want to leave behind because other peoples' anaylses of our actions can be easily misrepresented. Then we have a problem because we have to reconstruct what we did, when, and why we did whatever we did. This can be difficult. It is not usually the things that we do with a clear focus, forethought, and reason that distorts our profile but those actions we take on a whim.

What we do on a whim is also being record somewhere by someone.  It could come back to haunt us if it is distorted. Therein lies an interesting twist to the joys of modern living. 


Posted by richard-lipscombe at 10:14 AM NZT
Updated: Monday, 5 September 2011 7:03 PM NZT
Sunday, 4 September 2011
Myths and legends
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Action networks = success

 

Myths and legends intrique me.  Because so often I find the myths that have currency to be simply wrong. But they are never wrong to the people to whom they matter.

Myths build into legends because 'the insiders' they serve need them.  Insiders by definition need to believe and belong.  Myths and legends are what make them feel special.  They recite their myths as mantras.  They exclude those who can not.  Those who do not feel their passion for their myths and legends are 'the outsiders'.

Interestingly, there are always more outsiders than insiders because of the needs of the latter to be exclusive.  But insiders are the squeeky wheel that gets the oil, always.  

Facebook, Twitter, and social networks in general suffer from the need of insiders to have myths and legends. But this is the undoing of social networks because they fragment too easily in Tribes who thrive on myths and legends.   


Posted by richard-lipscombe at 2:23 PM NZT
Updated: Sunday, 4 September 2011 2:46 PM NZT
Friday, 2 September 2011
Integrity
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: DigitalCore.

 

There is one thing that is in short supply today.  It is not scarce but it is definitely in short supply and, it can not be bought or sold.  

Integrity.......


Posted by richard-lipscombe at 6:06 PM NZT
Updated: Friday, 2 September 2011 6:09 PM NZT
What we willingly put up with....
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Action networks = success

 

The measure of a person, community, country, or race is what we are willing to put up with.  If we feel powerless then we put up with a lot.  If we feel powerful then we put up with very little.  

In 2011 a lot of people are putting up with a lot.  Why?


Posted by richard-lipscombe at 2:34 PM NZT
Updated: Friday, 2 September 2011 2:38 PM NZT
Thursday, 1 September 2011
Acquire dumb luck
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Action networks = success

 

If you want to acquire dumb luck you have to drop any trace of hubrus.  Accept that you and me know very little about what is happening now and will happen tomorrow. Sure we have our mantras but we do not really know much.  If we accept that we are basically dumb about most things then guess what our dumb luck will increase.  Try it.


Posted by richard-lipscombe at 2:46 PM NZT
Dumb luck
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: DigitalCore.

 

Most, if not all, the great success you see around you is due to 'luck'.  The problem with that assertion is not that it is not true, it is, but that we can not accept it.  We can accept that the other guy was smarter,  imaginative/creative, gifted/talented, and even worked harder than me. We do not, can not, will not accept that the other had more 'dumb luck' than me.


Posted by richard-lipscombe at 2:41 PM NZT
Wednesday, 31 August 2011
Seven things to learn from Steve Jobs.
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: DigitalCore.

 

See http://goo.gl/ucse3


Posted by richard-lipscombe at 2:03 PM NZT
Steve Jobs - the other view.
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Action networks = success

 

Steve Jobs was a genius - no doubt. All geniuses are flawed - no doubt. All geniuses do it their way - no doubt. See


Posted by richard-lipscombe at 11:13 AM NZT
How do you shine in a group?
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Action networks = success

 

The best way to shine in groups is to understand them.  To understand them you have to know some simple things about them.  First groups can form as clusters.  These groups are held together by a theme.  Second groups can form as clans.  These groups are held together by a facilitator(s).  Third groups can form as tribes.  These groups are held together by a shared or common purpose.

To shine within a cluster, clan, or tribe you have to bring energy, commitment, focus, engagement, and willpower.


Posted by richard-lipscombe at 9:54 AM NZT
Updated: Wednesday, 31 August 2011 10:02 AM NZT
Digital economy
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Action networks = success

 

The emerging digital economy is full of opportunity.  Seeing and grasping those opportunities is the gift of a few for the benefit of many.

Opportunities lurk beyond the usual.  Beyond what most of us think is practical, possible, feasible, and even desirable. They are like uncut diamonds that have unfilled promise that is only visible if you are looking for gems to polish.  Most of us are not.

The starting point is simple.  Digital economics starts with free access, availability, and service. It begins with inclusion not exclusion - this turns what we know as urban-industrial economics on its head.


Posted by richard-lipscombe at 9:44 AM NZT
Tuesday, 30 August 2011
The power of false predictions.
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Action networks = success

 

2011 seems to be a time of disruptive change. It seems apparent that the change coming is not easy to predict. So this is probably a good time for you and me to become aware (again) of the power of false predictions.


Posted by richard-lipscombe at 8:13 PM NZT
Social networks
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Action networks = success

 

Facebook began as the tool of the outsiders at Harvard.  It asked questions of the insiders.  It linked the outsiders, who created it, to the insiders who ran the place.  The potential to retain that profile still existed within the company when they prototyped Facebook Questions at Davos. Facebook sectioned off a community of Facebook users to interact live within Sessions held by the world's most famous insiders at Davos. This select Facebook community could participate at Davos in real time discussion.  This innovation did not stick but it is one that might be worth revisiting at some point in the future.

As we know Facebook went on to become, like everything else on the web, a domain for the insiders.  It is insiders who dominate social networks and this is why it is so boring, stagnant (full of groupthink), and tribal. If you don't have a pressing need to 'belong' then Facebook offers little to you.  And yet, Facebook was created by two guys who did not ever feel they belonged at Harvard.

Social networks are tribal whether web-based or face-to-face.  They exist to reinforce what everyone believes about the world.  They support those who belong.  They shun those who have no need to belong and thus pass on many opportunities to embrace diversity, difference, or innovation. 


Posted by richard-lipscombe at 1:32 PM NZT
Updated: Tuesday, 30 August 2011 1:49 PM NZT
Learning from Steve Jobs.
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: DigitalCore.

 

Steve Jobs was the ultimate outsider who made 'the user' the core of Apple. His passion was to make superior products for you and me rather than boost his bottom line. His genius was to become 'the outsider' within the Apple Tribe. His role was to remove 'complacency' from all Apple design efforts. His passion was to surprise and delight an Apple user with some new ways of doing the same old things. His gift was to bring a sense of urgency to Apple even as it became more and more successful.


Posted by richard-lipscombe at 10:54 AM NZT
Monday, 29 August 2011
Groups
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: DigitalCore.

 

Individual mindsets, habits, and actions are what we all tend to focus on.  But group mindsets, habits, and actions are probably far more important today.

Social media is a product of groups not individuals.  It is a networking phenomena and so it is sustained by groups not individuals.  Individuals do lead, facilitate, and energise these networked groups but successful networks are group activities.

Unlike many, I believe in the wisdom of groups.  There is wisdom in 'groupthink' although it is often held to be a negative.  Groupthink underpins the cohesion, collaboration, and coordination needed for networked activities to succeed.  But groups can also thrive with diversity of views when they have good facilitators who insist on a free flowing discourse.  Within these groups conventional wisdom is always being challenged.  Finally there are groups that form for a singular purpose for a day, a week, a year, a decade, etc.

Groups are the bedrock of the C21 as they have been for centuries past.  The challenge for all of us is to better understand the impact of groups on us as individuals.  How do they impact our lives?  How can they make us better at what we do?  What are the positive/negative aspects of groups in our workplace, community, or nation?


Posted by richard-lipscombe at 9:39 AM NZT
Updated: Monday, 29 August 2011 10:20 AM NZT
Sunday, 28 August 2011
Inheriting success.
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Action networks = success

 

What do you do when you inherit success?  The natural thing to do is to seek to keep it going.  But how?

Take the case of Apple.  How much of the success is attributable to Steve Jobs and the culture of innovation, quality, and closed loops he built?  The imagination of Jobs can not be replaced.  But then again Jobs was not always right when he pushed for his more imaginative projects at Apple.  The ability to pick innovative winners that other people produced was part of Jobs and that can not be replaced.  So what to do?

What will most likely happen is that there will be an attempt to keep all the current products alive as long as possible.  But without the vision and energy of Jobs that will become stale fairtly quickly. 

What would you do if you had the chance to run Apple right now?  Are those the things you are doing in your current work?  If not why not?


Posted by richard-lipscombe at 7:15 PM NZT
Friday, 26 August 2011
Steve Jobs the great outsider
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Action networks = success

 

Steve Jobs has built a great digital entity called Apple way before its time.  He did it because he became a  professional outsider.  His role as the outsider has sustained and enriched Apple especially at the beginning of the C21st.  We can all learn so much from what he did and what he has achieved.  See http://goo.gl/nE4IH


Posted by richard-lipscombe at 12:15 PM NZT
Sell.....
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Action networks = success

 

Sell Apple? The king is dead, long live the king? But how can/do you replace Steve Jobs? You can't... John Sculley proved it. Sell Apple?


Posted by richard-lipscombe at 11:56 AM NZT

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