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CLEAR SPACE THINKING - the original - lipscombe.richard@gmail.com
Monday, 28 November 2011
Social cohesion.
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Action networks = success

 

For me the looming issue in 2012 is social cohesion.  The degree of social cohesion you depend upon now is easily evaluated.  Examine your current and prospective relationships to ascertain if they are based on trust.

Trust is a key commodity for all of us in 2012 given the unsettling nature of human affairs on our planet.  Economic activity is being reframed.  Political discourse and decision-making is being reshaped.  But if we have trust in ourself and in those we deal with on a daily basis then our future is bright.  When you have trustworthy relationships around you then the impact of ambiguity, uncertainty, and volatility being reported in the media 24/7 is so much easier to handle.

 


Posted by richard-lipscombe at 2:24 PM EADT
Friday, 11 November 2011
Become your own myth buster
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Action networks = success

 

Myth busters is a great program for a time.  Once you get the drift of what they do it becomes less and less exciting.  What is exciting is to learn that so many myths can be busted.  Get that and you get an insight into what life might be like if you busted the myths you believe in.

So much of my inner talk is based on assumptions that are myths.  Toyota builds great cars, perhaps, the best in the world.  i have never owned nor wanted to own a Toyota and yet until recent events I believe that myth.  There are many more that just sit there in my head unchallenged and doing harm to me.

I am a crusader right now, I want to become my own myth buster.


Posted by richard-lipscombe at 9:15 AM EADT
Updated: Friday, 11 November 2011 9:23 AM EADT
Thursday, 10 November 2011
Success or failure for you?
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Action networks = success

 

Leant more from past successes than from past failures.


Posted by richard-lipscombe at 11:45 AM EADT
Tuesday, 8 November 2011
Facebook rules!
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Action networks = success

 

Facebook has become the social networking equivalent of Government. It promotes needless chatter. It needs you much more than you need it.


Posted by richard-lipscombe at 12:57 PM EADT
Scarcity still wins.
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Action networks = success

 

In a world of abundance today there is a paradox: scarcity still wins.  What is scarce today is creative content.  What wins our attention today is creative content.  Creative content goes viral immediately because it is scarce.  It is different.  It is challenging.  It is at odds with the sameness of content we digest day in and day out.  Creative content is a beacon in a dark sea of sameness and abundance of the ordinary.


Posted by richard-lipscombe at 9:18 AM EADT
Monday, 7 November 2011
Legacy system drag.
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Action networks = success

 

2011 is a difficult economic environment to navigate.  But some are doing just fine thank you.  Are you one of them?

Those who have set themselves a clear and purposeful challenge are finding new ways to do old things.  The common thing these folk do is to rid themselves of 'legacy system drag'.  Have you done that yet?

Legacy system drag is common today.  You hear it in our language you see it in the words used to describe what the challenges are ahead.  One term that is clearly obsolete is 'war on talent'.  That is a term coined by McKinsey the consulting company that sold the idea to Enron.  They deployed that concept at the speed of light within Enron and it failed to delivered any of what was promised.  When Enron collapsed this term should have gone too but it lives on today. I just started to read a leaned piece on women in the workplace by a consultant in a top tier global consulting firm but stopped in the first paragraph because it was all about 'the war on talent'.

Shed your legacy system drag and perhaps you too can create an even bigger set of successes in 2012.


Posted by richard-lipscombe at 1:29 PM EADT
Updated: Monday, 7 November 2011 1:39 PM EADT
Friday, 4 November 2011
What a time this is.....
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Action networks = success

 

The distribution of wealth is an issue I have written about many times in blog.  It always seemed ahead of its time.  There was no vibe for it.  Now there is.

But now the issues are more complex.  The shouting might be loud and continuous but the chanting is from an old hymn book.

That's the way of the world.  People shoutout for change when really they want success in their lives.  Most people are not only not successful they have no idea what they need to do to be so.  They do all the things that they believe will bring success and when it does not happen so they resort to blaming others for their lack of achievement.  They soon then join the chorus that is chanting for change without a clue what success looks like.


Posted by richard-lipscombe at 5:58 PM NZT
Wednesday, 2 November 2011
Leave or stay?
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Action networks = success

 

Greeks have to decide whether it is better to leave or to stay....  See http://goo.gl/h7Stz


Posted by richard-lipscombe at 12:23 PM NZT
Monday, 31 October 2011
Price and elegance.
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Action networks = success

 

Does your product/service offering combine low price/cost and high degrees of elegance/charm?

Posted by richard-lipscombe at 4:02 PM NZT
LISTENING
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Action networks = success

 

Years ago I took a workshop that included a course in 'the art of active listening'. 

I rarely practice this skill these days. I find it less and less useful because most people now deploy 'the art of selective listening'.

Most people have a groupthink solution for every problem we face.  They sprout it and then they 'selectively listen' to what is said.  Anything that does not fit with their particular solution is not heard.

Are you afflicted with selective listening?


Posted by richard-lipscombe at 11:07 AM NZT
Updated: Monday, 31 October 2011 11:16 AM NZT
Monday, 24 October 2011
Think for yourself or the cost of being wrong
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Action networks = success

 

See this http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/11957


Posted by richard-lipscombe at 5:28 PM NZT
Updated: Monday, 24 October 2011 5:31 PM NZT
What a wonderful future ahead....
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Action networks = success

 

With all the demonstrations around the world we have to conclude that the world is changing.

Change is a great thing but not for everyone.  Those who oppose change the strongest are often those who claim to advocate it.

Old continuities are breaking down.  The consumer economy is being tested as deleveraging of banks stunts credit for households.  Jobs are being redesigned to meet global demand not just nation state requirements for a stable economy.  On and on we could go...

Occupy Wall Street and The Tea Party are the bookends of the protests.  End corporate greed and end government greed are the calls.  Government greed - tax and spend and print money - is what led to the latest rounds of Corporate greed so perhaps they want the same thing in the end.

Once we clear all this ideological fog the future is bright. A future of flexible work practices, more even distribution of wealth (could not get much worse), and a set of more environmental friendly consumption patterns.

Not much has to change actually.  All we need do is stop the debt binge.  Emphasise work not jobs.  Understand that entertainment, web content, is a booming global industry.  Learn to collaborate more with competitors to grow our total market.  And so on and so on.

The biggest thing we all have to do is to recognise what we don't know is far more important than what we do know...... 


Posted by richard-lipscombe at 12:12 PM NZT
Updated: Monday, 24 October 2011 12:30 PM NZT
Sunday, 23 October 2011
From silent to talkies....
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Action networks = success

 

Learning lessons from history.  Success teaches us to expect continuity and too easily discount the impact of discontinuity.  

Technology disrupts in ways that are not obvious.  It does NOT disrupt in ways that are not obvious too.

First the move to talking movies ended the careers of the silent scene stars including Charlie Chaplin.  This was not obvious until after it had happened.

Second the move to talking movies did NOT end the audiences' love of slap stip homour, romeo and juliet plots, who dunnit scripts, etc.  The delivery changed but not the content.


Posted by richard-lipscombe at 5:40 PM NZT
Thursday, 20 October 2011
Networking
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Action networks = success

 

For all the talk of networking in our digital age there is still a lot to be done in the workplace.  The workplace is not a progressive place so it will be hard.  The problem is that people, whether networked or not, are tribal so they want to belong.  In their cubicles at work they can find a way to connect with the others in a similar situation.  On a digital network they seek the same sense of belonging that is why Facebook is popular.  On Facebook there is sense of belonging to something.  Facebook is hyped way beyond it usefulness, nevertheless, it is a common meeting place and thus gives people a sense of belonging to the Facebook Tribe.

Networking will occur when the work not the people is the focus of the workplace.  For too long now we have been focussed on the people not the work.  There are lots of reasons for this - not least that people need to work to share in the prosperity of the nation - but after the looming world-wide depression we will no doubt see quick progress. The coming global depression will help clean out a lot of social structures that are currently holding the world back from reaping the benefits of the digital age.


Posted by richard-lipscombe at 9:51 AM NZT
Updated: Thursday, 20 October 2011 10:04 AM NZT
Wednesday, 19 October 2011
What is success?
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Action networks = success

 

We all crave success.  But how do we design it, set up for it, and ultimately measure it?  Those who have the most success in life rely on luck in all three aspects of its realisation.  Is there a better way?

Most people do not need a better way because they are happy to have the type of success that their peers enjoy.  They copy, comply, and fit in so that their successes are noted but are not out of the normal order of things.  "Keeping up with the Joneses" describes what I think most people accept as success.

Success on our own terms is for most of us an anti-social act.  It is therefore not going to be as common as we would like it to be. Everyone craves it but few understand that to gain it in their own right they have to become 'outsiders' to the world that gives them comfort.

For most people success is limited by their social relationships.  It is determined by the mob they hang with.  This is probably true for most individuals, countries, communities, companies, and governments. 


Posted by richard-lipscombe at 10:03 AM NZT
Updated: Wednesday, 19 October 2011 10:49 AM NZT
Friday, 14 October 2011
What everyone thinks.
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Action networks = success

 

What most people think is what everyone thinks.  That is everyone in their mob.  They think it because if they do not then they have to join a different mob.  In essence, they have to find a new identity because so much of who we think we are is underlined by who we hang with.

I believe in the wisdom of the crowd.  But there is often no wisdom at all within the mob.  The wisdom in the crowd comes from diversity, openness, and tolerance of difference.  The dumbness of the mob comes from its sameness, groupthink, and intolerance of difference.

The Occupy Wall Street movement is interesting because there is a common theme but there is also a  tolerance of difference in the voices that speak.  Most there see a breaking point in our modern society that is rapidly reached when inequality is tolerated and allowed to get worse and worse.  Those occupying the street see the problem but as yet have not seen the solutions.  Solutions are the preserve of those who simply 'think what everyone thinks' so if you expect these folk to answer their own question you will be disappointed.


Posted by richard-lipscombe at 4:06 PM NZT
Thursday, 13 October 2011
Credit goes to whom?
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Action networks = success

 

Who gets the credit in your family, workplace, or society?  I contend that it is the person who presides over success not the person who shapes it. Those who are lauded are usually not capable of making the changes that lead to the successes they claim.  Look around you and you will soon see exactly what I mean.


Posted by richard-lipscombe at 11:38 AM NZT
Wednesday, 12 October 2011
Do you let your best people go?
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Action networks = success

 

It takes courage to let your best people go work for someone else.  It takes heaps of supidity to stop them.

It takes courage to rehire your best people after they have gone to work for someone else.  It is an act of dumbness not to......


Posted by richard-lipscombe at 3:15 PM NZT
Create quality not 'sameness'.
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Action networks = success

 

Clear Space Thinking is about finding your place.  A place beyond the reach of your competitors.  A place where you can create quality content, services, or products. The emphasis there is on quality.  It is not enough to be different from the rest.  But the key to creating quality is in the process of getting to be different.

The quality of most people, goods, and services today is sucked out by the process of sameness.  Everyone is trying to be like someone or something else.  Each  time you choose to do that instead of finding your own pathway to success you lose some of your quality.


Posted by richard-lipscombe at 12:53 PM NZT
Updated: Wednesday, 12 October 2011 1:02 PM NZT
Tuesday, 11 October 2011
The importance of being superficial....
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Action networks = success

 

We live in a world where being superficial is important.  No more important than ever before perhaps but it is more obvious today because of 24/7 coverage of events.

It is the superficial that dominate the airwaves not the creative geniuses.  The genius is swamped by the superficial until or unless he/she is creative enough to slip the new, bold, unexpected, and remarkable into the superficial buzz that is going on around us all. Once the new, bold, remarkable is slipped into the superficial it can go viral and then it is 'really cool'.

It was always like this but at present it just seems even more so......  


Posted by richard-lipscombe at 4:33 PM NZT

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