Month: September 2011

Afternoon coffee break/walk featuring a gorgeous Triumph.

The relationships between leaders and teams, and among peers – how the challenge is framed, what managers say to their teams, and how team members support, encourage, and challenge each other.Money buys you people’s time. It should also guarantee you basic professional competence. But you don’t get outstanding creativity by simply offering more money. You get mercenaries. If you want real creativity – the magic ingredient X that sets the product apart – you need to inspire it, by showing them what makes the work fascinating, challenging, meaningful, and fun. And you need to give them freedom to do it their way, rather than micro-managing every step.

(via 99%)

Link: You Can’t Buy Creativity

The eve of the last day of summer.

The sky keeps getting smaller & smaller.

What’s behind the red door?

Read: 10 Strategies to Reinvent Your Personal Brand

10. Be a leader.

9. Be a resource.

8. Be a relationship builder.

7. Be a good listener.

6. Be on the lookout.

5. Be enlightened.

4. Be a communicator.

3. Be credible.

2. Be a catalyst.

1. Be involved.

(via talentzoo)
Link: 10 Strategies to Reinvent Your Personal Brand

Five things to do when you’re laid off

If the bad news comes your way, consider these five tips.

  1. Get what’s coming to you
  2. Check your options for severance pay
  3. Make copies of your contact lists
  4. Strive to get a positive recommendation
  5. File for unemployment benefits

(via latimes)

Link: What to do if you’re laid off

*cringe* I think I’ve done a couple of these.

12 Most Annoying Things People Do On LinkedIn

Looking at the sky from a puddle at my feet.

Who doesn’t want to curl up with a good book on a day like today?

New art show @izzyscoffee

That’s a lot of concrete & steel.

Perfect night to try Bouchon’s for supper.

Read: Six Rules For Networking at Work

  1. Build outward, not inward.
  2. Go for diversity, not size.
  3. Build weak ties, not strong ones.
  4. Use hubs, not familiar faces.
  5. Swarm the target.
  6. If people aren’t pulling together, strengthen ties.

(via HBR)

Link: Six Rules For Networking at Work

Srsly, street buskers with an upright piano.

Social Media ROI

1. You are asking the wrong question.

2. To get the right answer, ask the right question.

3. The unfortunate effect of asking the question incorrectly.

4. Pay attention and all the social media R.O.I. BS you have heard until now will evaporate in the next 90 seconds.

5. R.O.I. isn’t an afterthought.6. R.O.I. isn’t always relevant.

(via The Brand Builder)

Link: 6 Things to consider about social media and R.O.I.

Sometimes it is a two coffee afternoon.

Why SEO [infographic]

(Source: http://www.seoforidaho.com/infographics/seo-vs-ppc-infographic)

Because it’s Asheville & everything is colorful.

Read: Digital Maoism

The problem I am concerned with here is not the Wikipedia in itself…. the problem is in the way the Wikipedia has come to be regarded and used; how it’s been elevated to such importance so quickly. And that is part of the larger pattern of the appeal of a new online collectivism that is nothing less than a resurgence of the idea that the collective is all-wise…. This is different from representative democracy, or meritocracy. This idea has had dreadful consequences when thrust upon us from the extreme Right or the extreme Left in various historical periods. The fact that it’s now being re-introduced today by prominent technologists and futurists, people who in many cases I know and like, doesn’t make it any less dangerous….The beauty of the Internet is that it connects people. The value is in the other people. If we start to believe that the Internet itself is an entity that has something to say, we’re devaluing those people and making ourselves into idiots….The hive mind should be thought of as a tool. Empowering the collective does not empower individuals — just the reverse is true. There can be useful feedback loops set up between individuals and the hive mind, but the hive mind is too chaotic to be fed back into itself.

HT: longformorg: A cautionary inquiry into the unchecked hive mind. Jaron Lanier | EDGE | May 2006

Link: Digital Maoism: The Hazards of the New Online Collectivism

The home of the next generation of beautiful apps

“Users can see the passion of the team behind their products. That’s my  number one advice for everyone; take the time you need to create the  best result you’re able to create, forget ‘release early, release often’  and move to ‘It’s done, when it’s done’.”

Link: Why Berlin is home to a new generation of beautiful apps

Soon one building will rise while another disappears into the #AVL skyline.

Sometimes the thought of walking several miles to get home is a refreshing idea. And then I recall that both my shoes have holes in them.

#avlent @josepharthur does a third encore at the merc table.