Category: Business & Communities

Yay! The greatest green app of all time!

Published October 6, 2009 by Jo Jordan

This is the greatest application of all time. It rests on a basic idea that you can have my attention, you can use my telephone line, but you will pay me for the privilege!

Making junk callers pay for their calls

1. When you telephone me, your caller ID is matched with several ads and you are redirected in the first instance to your competition, whereupon you hear an ad, and I get 25p!

2. If your caller ID matches anyone on my list, then the call comes straight through.

3. If your have a promotional code that you add to the end of my number, the call comes straight through.

All calls are tracked. So I can find out quite easily who is giving my special number away.

The sister app works for email

1. When your junk mail arrives, I press one button and a message is sent back to the server who work out the sender and send one email back to them for every email they sent out. And I get 25p! Someone who blasts out 1000 unwanted mails is going to get 1000 back!

2. The email that is returned reflects their competition. For example: when emails arrive from a scammer in Bakino Faso, they are sent scrumptious ads of something in Bakino Faso (what is scrumptious in BF?). Or a message from Interpol! When Virgin Media sends me an email full of pictures, we send back an email about the thing they are obviously short of – social media specialists! And so on. Anyway, the app does that. I get 25 p.

The cousin app works for junk mail

The cousin app works similarly but takes more work from me. Instead of sending my junk mail to landfill, I strip off my name for security and put it back in an envelope and return to to the sender – in their envelope. They pay the postage.

The app makes it money by collecting the returned junk mail from the big senders and recycling it properly. They work out the cost details with the junk pushers.

I told you life is getting better!

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Education level that was good for the top 3% is now necessary for all but the bottom 3%

Published October 6, 2009 by Jo Jordan

Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards. — Soren Kierkegaard

Good to remember!

Though most people are better living forwards that understanding backwards

In industrial psychology, we distinguish between “tracking” and “diagnosis”.

Take a pilot landing a large plane, for example. They assimilate a lot of information, that changes before they have time to put it into words, and bring the plane down, hopefully, to a gentle landing at high speed.

When, God forbid that something goes wrong, highly trained investigators will come in to work out what happened. The investigators aren’t likely to be pilots and the investigators probably don’t land fully laden passenger jets.

We have specially trained people to think backwards

In factories, we make the same distinction. We have hands-on people who keep complex, continuous flow plants going, safely. It’s as demanding as landing a plane.

Yet, the day the process breaks down, we call the process engineers. They work out what went wrong and bring science to bear to figure out what the factory managers can do to get the plant going again.

The two people groups aren’t interchangeable. Simply, the managers think forwards. The engineers think backwards.

Usually the engineers are more highly educated. They often earn more.

But they aren’t “line”. And the “line” thinks they are egg-heads because they can’t do the “real thing”.

So it is funny that we have to be reminded not to think backwards. Most of us don’t. Most of us can’t. We need experts for that.

In the future, we might have to do thinking forward as well as thinking backwards

What has been puzzling me recently, or truthfully what is in my in-basket marked “puzzles”, is how the “design-thinking” approach to management will change this divide.

Take Toyota, for example. Every worker on the assembly line is capable of doing quite sophisticated experiments. They use statistics equivalent to Honours in any subject except statistics itself. The two types of work seem to be merging.

The idea of ‘failing informatively’ will also change what professions like engineering and psychology learn and contribute in the work place. We will not only be required to diagnose what went wrong. We will be required to play a more hands-on role in moving things forward.

This is the age of statistics

The attitude of Google to data makes simple A B experiments a day-to-day job rather than the job of an expensive graduate. The burgeoning use of good visuals makes statistics a discipline of communication.

I sense there is more to this change than I am saying here. What is clear though, is that the education levels that used to be regarded as the preserve of the top 3% of the population are now necessary for all but the bottom 3%. Necessary. Not optional.

How can every child learn statistics?

So what are we going to do about illiteracy in Western countries? It amazes me that people who cannot read books play computer games quite well.

So I doubt this is a real problem. We need to get kids into factories where they see statistics being used

And then they can teach us!

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I want a British TED – and a parallel show for Luddites

Published October 4, 2009 by Jo Jordan

I want a British TED

The world is divided it seems – in to those who watch TED and those who don’t.

I watch TED because I like positivity – I like my daily fix. And I admire technological advancement. I wish we had a British TED too – the best of science and technology that is coming out of the UK.

But is my wonder of TED shared?

It seems strange to me, but so many people don’t share my wonder. They aren’t interested. They even proclaim themselves proudly as Luddites.

What bothers the Luddites?

Of course, the original Luddites weren’t just disapproving of new technology. They smashed the new weaving presses too.

The people around us who claim they are Luddites, simply don’t understand the technology they decry. But they don’t stop anyone else using it.

They share with the original Luddites, though, a sense of disapproval. Most of all, the new technology threatens their status.

Should we bother with Luddites?

I am impatient with people who are ‘tight’. But all fear is genuine – sincerely and acutely felt. And I am willing to spend time to help people find a positive place in the world.

What I am not willing to do is hold up improvements for others while they have a sulk. That’s not on the agenda at all.

The general class of bereavement counseling

When we are counseling people who are fretting about change, we are working with a ‘general class’ of issue – bereavement at the highest level, and adjournment at the level of group formation.

Because disdain of new technology belongs to broader, general class of situations, we have the know-how and experience to help people. We work through three broad steps.

1. Acknowledge the contribution they made to our welfare and celebrate the skills they used. We do this fully, sincerely and elaborately.

2. Focus attention on the opportunities that are opening ahead of us, and new patterns of relationships with new people who are coming into view. We are concrete & specific and we introduce them, in person, to people who work in the new technologies.

3. Help individuals, one-by-one, to formulate a personal plan. We get down & dirty, one person at a time.

I think we should be bothered with Luddites. If they cannot see how technological change will benefit them, then we haven’t worked hard enough to show them around the new world that it is coming.

Better Reality TV? TED and the parallel program for Luddites?

I want a British TED, because I like to watch science, and I want to know the best of British science, up and down the land.

I’d also like to see a parallel program that offers respect for the work of people in ‘old technologies’ and welcomes them into a world that we find dear.

Shall we put reality TV and our license fees to good work?

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If you plan ahead, you will be interested in this list . . . and add to it

Published October 3, 2009 by Jo Jordan

As a relative “noobe” in the UK, I’ve been frustrated in my search for data about the economy. It is incredibly difficult to get information from the National Statistics Office that in the US and NZ can be slurped online in seconds.

There also seems to be little vision about where we are going.

Repeating complaints and doomsday scenarios doesn’t help, I know. But asking the right questions does.

Yesterday, IT writer, Philip Virgo posted a summary of his lobbying at each of the Party congresses. I’ve reorganised his post below as a set of questions – using his words when they graphically describe the issue.

Questions about the future of work in the UK

Which are the industries of the future? [Which are they are, and how are developments in these industries consistently highlighted in the media?]

Which industries will have “integrated career paths”?

What would be consequences of not having industries with integrated career paths? What is the alternative?

Will “home made” careers do? Or, will our children be condemned to a “professional backwater . . . no longer part of the mainstream route to the top – unless they emigrate and don’t come back”?

Will our children and grandchildren be “condemned to surf the cybercrud on the fringes of the global information society – as the UK becomes the electronic equivalent of Cannery Row – a post-industrial poor relation to the economic powerhouses of Asia”?

What will attract industries of the future – particularly in IT and information-management?

A competitive communications infra-structure and access to world-class broadband

Regulatory simplicity, clarity and predictability

Fiscal certainty [presumably for companies and employees]

Removing planning controls designed for the 50’s and replacing them with controls we need for the information age.

“Workforce skills programmes” that develop a critical mass of skilled people in the industries that interest us

Virgo describes the migration of IT businesses out of the UK – Maxwell’s newspapers, Google and Yahoo. Isle of Man, Switzerland and Singapore seem to be attractive destinations largely because they undertake to defend data privacy from interference from the US. If that is so, then a foreign policy component of future planning is also clear.

These questions seem to be a good way to start thinking about life and prospects in the UK in the future

What do you think of them?

Being a ‘noobe’ here, I’d be interested in your thoughts on the right questions to ask . . . and the likely answers.

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Is this today’s career choice- invest in crowd sourcing OR in expert filters?

Published October 2, 2009 by Jo Jordan

Absolute Radio launched its online radio last night. It runs under the name Dabbl from 7pm to 6am. We nominate the tracks that they should play, and the most popular tracks win.

Dabbl as a lens on social media

A critical unresolved issue in social media is whether crowd sourcing can replace expertise.

Are our votes better than the opinions of expert DJ’s on Radio 6, for example?

I think, as ever, the proof will be in the pudding. We will have to see, in other words.

Do we take part?

Are the averages of our opinions as good as the expert knowledge of DJ’s?

Dabbl : an experiment we should all copy

Whatever the outcome – Dabbl are running a good experiment that every honest industry should finance and run.

How good is the filter made up by our average opinions?

With this baseline, experts can ask themselves a straight forward question.

Can we do better than the average opinion?

And if so how exactly do we do better?

How can we organize a service that is consistently better?

And how can we develop our service over time so that it continues to be better than average opinion?

In what way do our consumers think our service is better?

And who is so convinced by our superior performance that they are willing to fund it?

Welcome to the 21st century! I reckon Dabbl is beating the path to where we all will be soon.

What would be crowd-sourcing in your industry?

With Dabbl in front of me as a clear example, I am going to be thinking about this. What would crowd-sourcing look like in psychology, management and consulting?

What would it mean to commit to a career in crowd-sourcing?

And what would it mean to commit to a career in an expert filter that competes with crowd-sourcing?

Is there a third choice? And if so, what is it?

What will you be discussing with youngsters you coach?

Crowd-sourcing?

Expert filters that compete with crowd sourcing?

UPDATE: I think the third choice is to do both. I think we should build platforms to crowdsource in our area and add the expertise on top. Of course some might specialize in various aspects of the enterprise. As a profession, I think crowdsourcing should be our basic foundation and there should be a seamless gradient to expert opinion.

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Social media has raised the ante in events & conference management

Published October 1, 2009 by Jo Jordan

I am not an events manager. If you want information on events management, follow @tojulius and @carmenhere.

I am writing this because someone asked me how an event could be better. Events are a highly specialized and skilled form of organizational management, but as a sub-class of organizational management, some general rules apply.

My question is this: if apply the four basic rules, do I arrive at any insights of value?

1. Make it easy to join in

If we stumble on the sign up, or forget our passwords, nothing more will happen.

The basics are having the event at a place we can reach with public transport, on a day that isn’t filled with competing events, etc. You get the point? I can move on?

2. Make it easy for people to connect

I still go to conferences where I cannot see in advance who is attending, let alone connect with them. And the attendance list does not include email addresses or twitter handles. There is no way to find anyone at the conference once we get there. We are under-utilizing the social, or connect-potential, of the meeting. Grossly.

I know why we continue to organize like this. It is not technology. Amiando and Meetup have full social capacity. It is the ‘control-freak’ nature of British-society. We like to dis the government for being control-freaks, but it start with us.

Maybe we should give every meetup a control-freak rating? Anyway, it is time to stop. I don’t come to your meetup just to meet you! I want to meet other people too. I don’t want to meet up with 1% of people I could meet. I want the full potential!

3. Find a way for people to learn

We learn whenever we ‘do’. We are learning animals.

But just as there are levels of convenience in #1 and levels of sociability in #2, there are levels of learning.

When I introduce myself and the other person struggles to understand what I am on about, I learn.

I also learn when Twitter feeds go up on a big screen. Those big screens can be distracting though. Sometimes they are just a techie gimmick.

Whether they add value or not seems to revolve around ‘feedback loops’. Which feedback loops can we add to highlight great examples of what we do? And is there a way of making data available so people with the skills and inclination can mash it up, dress it up, and present it back to us?

A raffle in which we put our business cards in a bowl for a prize is an example of this principle. The pile of cards grows and we feel good to be at a popular event. The lucky winner is highlighted for being present (and being lucky). I am sure the organizers are looking through the cards too, to see who came (with cards and who will have a gamble)?

What else can we amplify in this way? How can we help people learn?

4. Find a way for the event to add meaning

We all want to belong to something bigger than ourselves. I don’t mean belong to a group bigger than ourselves. We want our group to fit into a wider landscape in a meaningful way. The existential purpose of the group must be clear. Not just the instrumental purpose or the social purpose.

How does this group fit into the wider community? Why would the wider community be happy that we are there? Why would they mourn if we were not there? How does our meaning change with our activity? How does the wider community thrive and flourish because we thrive and flourish?

This is the big ask. So many old organizations feel rotten because they are no longer connected with the wider well-being of the community – in the community’s eyes, that is, not their own. Does the community see them? How does the community see them? What is the symbiosis?

What is the symbiosis between our event or startup and the wider community? How do they see us? When they talk about us, or our activities? Which parts of our work bring a light to their eyes?

Social media has raised the ante in events management

Tough. In the olden-days we were a star to get #1 right. It is not enough any more. We have to step up through the levels. So point me to good examples, please, because I am still learning too.

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Events management from the point of view of a participant

Published October 1, 2009 by Jo Jordan

I am choosy about events

Well, I am easy-going in the sense that I will pitch up and help anywhere if I can, but I distinguish in my mind between events where I am just being obliging and events which I really enjoy.

Seeing events from the point of view of a participant

I’ve been asked about why I enjoy some events and I’ve tried to articulate the whole process of event participation – the flip side of events management.

When I am being choosy, I look for three things.

#1 When I look at myself in the mirror of the event, do I feel more vital and more alive? Do my dreams seem more full and more colourful? Do my dreams seem to belong and do I get the feeling that if I choose, I can make my dreams come true? So not all events are for everyone.

#2 Does the location, timing and pace of the event allow me to be relaxed and playful? Do ideas start connecting in unusual ways? Am I likely to end the day having made new connections that I could have made at home or at the office but won’t because it is too busy there? An event that doesn’t allow time to unwind will just be work.

#3 Was I able to be heard at the event? We often don’t know what we think until we hear ourselves aloud. Sometimes the simplest things aren’t getting done because we didn’t label the task out loud. Sometimes priorities have shifted and as soon as we say so out loud, our action plan is startlingly clear. When I hear other people, do their lives provide sufficient insight about my life that I get an “aha” experience. Actually, I am greedy. I want many “aha” experiences. I want to get an inkling that an idea is worth pursuing. And then I will pursue it away from the meetup – much richer for realising there are interesting possibilities in places that I had never thought to look.

What is likely to be part of an event that I really enjoy?

#1 Style. I am sensitive to chi and like to feel it flow.

#2 Good food. I don’t mind the style of cuisine and it can be very simple but I like it to be done well.

#3 Competence. I love listening to competent people and watching them work. I like mixing with competent people. I like admiring competent event managers. I cannot do what they do. But I watch them as happily as I will watch a Wimbledon Tennis Final.

#4 Voice. I want people to be able to speak up and be heard. It is hard to organize an event where everyone is heard. It is a big ask and I think it can only be done when all the other factors are in place.

#5 Connections. Surprising connections bring astonishing futures. The right people, who are interested in meeting each other and helping each other, generate possibilities we couldn’t imagine until we got together. We attend new events hoping this ingredient is there. We go back when it is right.

Creating atmosphere as a competency

Now, none of this is too hard, is it?

I jest. Creating a good atmosphere is the most mysterious of competences. Good Headmasters and Headmistresses do it. Good Presidents and Primeministers do it. And so do event managers.

Maybe this is the age of event management.

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I invest in 10 ways at a meetup and expect to get nothing! What’s your equation?

Published September 30, 2009 by Jo Jordan

Carmen asked me what I “get out” of Spicy Networking and my answer is nothing. I don’t get anything. That is why the meetings are so enjoyable!

Robin, whose last name I didn’t catch, also asked me, and I asked him if he knew the concept of “chi”. Rooms have chi (or not). Well, events do too and so do people.

To use an example to explain. I don’t get anything out of putting a money tree in the wealth corner of my house. Putting a money tree in the right corner simply pays respect to what is respect-worthy, and creates the right environment for good things to happen. They may or may not.

The expression “make my own luck” is similar. I have to create the conditions to be lucky – but I can’t force luck. Luck doesn’t like to be forced.

Chi can’t be forced. Joy can’t be forced. But I can’t function without chi and joy in my life.

When I try to “get something” at an event, it won’t happen.

But it won’t happen either if I don’t make an effort. It’s the asymmetry that confuses people. People want a linear equation – if I do it, it will happen.

It works more like this. If I do certain things, something I value may happen. But if I don’t do certain things, it certainly won’t. I know people struggle with this lack of equation. But there it is. Life isn’t a straight line graph!

So let me ask the question the other way around.

What do I invest in a networking event?

#1: I am choosy.

Why go to a dull or badly organized event? And certainly why go back? I think people who tolerate rubbish events (and go back) have no respect for themselves. They are unlikely to be a good environment for me.

#2: I show up

90% of success is showing up, reasonably on time. We can’t benefit if we are not there.

#3: I introduce myself to people

We gain little by standing in the corner (next to the snack table or the bar) having the same conversation that we had with someone last time. First rule – don’t hold up the bar!

#4: I make time to listen

Particularly to people who haven’t learned the art of networking. It is hard to introduce ourselves concisely. Like everything it takes practice. Those of us better at it need to give people still learning some air-time.

#5: I try to learn

People can ask amazingly disconcerting questions. Last night, I often said I was from a small town. Everyone wanted to know more. I need to think seriously about what they want to know about my town. Questions simply tell us what is unclear to people. And we all are unclear to someone!

#6: I (sometimes) ask open-ended questions

It’s smart to end our elevator pitch with questions so the next person learns about us while talking about themselves. It’s much better than interrogating them or yawning as they stumble though some waffle.

#7: I rephrase what people do and tell them how they benefit me

It’s good for people to hear how their work has value. It struck me last night that a lot of people have got into the habit of concealing their contributions. I must think about this a bit more.

#8: I play “happy-families”

How many people can you talk to in an evening? 15? And if we introduce ourselves randomly, how many will share our interests? If I can speed up the time it takes to find someone with mutual interests by pointing out who has what in common with whom, very good.

#9: I connect after the event

I look up their website/blog and follow up using one of the channels they provided.

There is no point in sending an automated message that does not remind the person of our specific conversation. I am really arrogant if I think they will remember me among all the people they met.

And to send an automated message via a service they don’t use is just an irritant. I know I avoid anyone who does that to me.

#10: I am grateful and allow the possibilities to bloom

In a good evening, the ‘chi’ gets my creative mind going. I come away feeling that I want the day off to think through the ideas that seem to come out of nowhere. They came out of my head of course. They don’t come from anyone I met. It’s just that being in a good environment sets the process off.

I suppose that’s what I “get” – though I can’t “get” with any certainty because chi, luck, job, connection, belonging, creativity cannot be forced. They can only be encouraged.

Your turn. Review time!

Should I be striving to “get” something? 10 things I do are a lot – I don’t actually think about it when I do it. Writing it all down just makes a long list.

What do you do? What could I do differently?

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Are YOU able to bring 100 interesting people together in a party in London?

Published September 30, 2009 by Jo Jordan

How do Julius and Carmen find these venues?

Last night, Spicy Networking met up at The Livery on Wood Street, just off Cheapside as we exit St Paul’s tube.

To be honest, in the ordinary course of events, I would never have noticed The Livery.

It is on a side street
It is ultra modern with clean strong lines
It is long, with the seating all the way through to the back.
And to be be very honest, had I noticed it, I wouldn’t have even gone in. It wouldn’t look like a place that you just drop in.

As a function venue, The Livery is magnificent.

It is near a major tube (St Paul’s, Central Line). It is on a side street so there are fewer fumes. The ultra clean look is great for a reception where we are moving around the room a lot and shuffling our bags between our feet. The long bar opened up into a wide area at the back that was reserved for us.

There is evidently a ‘mental model’ that the hospitality industry and event managers understand that allows them to spot these things.

And then, of course, they make the event happen. We need more than a good room. We need the right food. And, we need the right people.

The food at events organized by Carmen and Julius is always fantastic.

The people are exceptional. In 18 months or so in the UK, Julius and Carmen have built up a network of business people, entrepreneurs and post-graduate students. Everyone you talk to at these events is interesting. And energetic.

A good event. A sound business. An exciting career. The magic is in getting the right people together.

That is where the real magic lies. Getting the right people together.

I don’t know how to do this. I could coach you but you would be working it out for yourself as you go.

If you need it done for you, you need to speak to Julius and Carmen. They know how to do it. They have done it. They do do it.

And if don’t have time to help you, they may know people who can.

Check our restaurants like The Livery which are on the side streets!

In the meantime, pop in to The Livery for a beer and light meal. And imagine it full with 100 of the most interesting people in London.

I’ll be going back, not to relive a great evening, but to see how it sparks my imagination about the magic of life and work around St Paul’s.

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Category: Business & Communities

Making junk callers pay for their calls

The sister app works for email

The cousin app works for junk mail

Like this:

Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards. — Soren Kierkegaard

Though most people are better living forwards that understanding backwards

We have specially trained people to think backwards

In the future, we might have to do thinking forward as well as thinking backwards

This is the age of statistics

How can every child learn statistics?

Like this:

I want a British TED

But is my wonder of TED shared?

What bothers the Luddites?

Should we bother with Luddites?

The general class of bereavement counseling

Better Reality TV? TED and the parallel program for Luddites?

Like this:

Questions about the future of work in the UK

What will attract industries of the future – particularly in IT and information-management?

These questions seem to be a good way to start thinking about life and prospects in the UK in the future

Like this:

Dabbl as a lens on social media

Dabbl : an experiment we should all copy

What would be crowd-sourcing in your industry?

What will you be discussing with youngsters you coach?

Like this:

1. Make it easy to join in

2. Make it easy for people to connect

3. Find a way for people to learn

4. Find a way for the event to add meaning

Social media has raised the ante in events management

Like this:

I am choosy about events

Seeing events from the point of view of a participant

What is likely to be part of an event that I really enjoy?

Creating atmosphere as a competency

Like this:

What do I invest in a networking event?

#1: I am choosy.

#2: I show up

#3: I introduce myself to people

#4: I make time to listen

#5: I try to learn

#6: I (sometimes) ask open-ended questions

#7: I rephrase what people do and tell them how they benefit me

#8: I play “happy-families”

#9: I connect after the event

#10: I am grateful and allow the possibilities to bloom

Your turn. Review time!

Like this:

How do Julius and Carmen find these venues?

As a function venue, The Livery is magnificent.

A good event. A sound business. An exciting career. The magic is in getting the right people together.

Check our restaurants like The Livery which are on the side streets!

Like this:

Like this: