Author: whatifconcepts
Too Many Choices
If you unclear about what you believe then you need to offer more choices. One of the brilliant parts of Facebook is that you can ‘like’ something or comment. There is no dislike, maybe like, perhaps, somewhat, neither buttons. You post your thoughts and friends and fans can support your sentiment or not.
Are you clear about what you believe? Perhaps one way to test this is to run a brief poll. Ask for responses. Can you accept like and dislike as the only two answers? If you need a five point scale to measure your impact, perhaps you have not been clear about your cause. One colleague put it this way, a question that requires a range of satisfaction should really say, ‘I agree and I am a fan’ and then all the other possible answers should say, ‘I do not agree but I am this polite/diplomatic.’
If you sat in a moving vehicle watching just the GPS display without looking out the window, how would it change your perception of travel? My two kids create this virtual journey for themselves on the way to school. They were fascinated to watch the route were taking, actual speed, and direction of travel. Suddenly they shouted, ‘you are speeding!’ The GPS listed the posted speed limit on the screen and they noticed that we were now going 40 MPH in a 35 MPH zone. What they did not see was that we were in a line of traffic that was all moving at this speed.
One of the challenges with snapshots, dashboards, or any measurement instrument is that they do not tell the whole story. The GPS unit provides accurate location and selected data. What is does not address is the environmental issues. Is there snow on the roads? Am I being tailgated or is the driver in front directionally challenged? Is there a passing zone or what is the speed of moving traffic. If our driving skills were evaluated just in the context of watching a GPS unit there may be periods of alarm. But when the realities of the real-time variables were considered, an appropriate course of action is being executed.
What do you measure? How do you evaluate the data? What questions does it raise?
30 Day Trial
What activity would you be willing to commit to for 30-days? A cleanse, learn another language, give up TV, post daily on a blog, volunteer, or add a fitness routine? Matt Cutts started such a challenge and spoke about his experience at TED 2011. While we wait for the video of his presentation here are a few highlights from his website.
Enchantment
Enjoying the authentic approach and message of Guy Kawasaki’s Enchantment book. Guy shares his presentation on Slideshare below.
Enchantment v2.2
View more presentations from Guy Kawasaki.
Swarm Intelligence
How can thousands of Wildebeest coordinate their migration and yet two humans can run into each other in an otherwise empty hallway? One answer is that Wildebeest use ‘swarm intelligence‘. The herd explores and overcomes obstacles as one. This is not an everyone for themselves operation. The herd succeeds based on collective trial and error. With enough followers the herd is bound to succeed. The key component is that there is a shared vision for the Wildebeest, they are moving from one grazing land to another. All their movements are unified towards achieving the goal that will benefit the entire herd.
What could your cause do with swarm intelligence?
(K)now Your Strengths
It is important to know your strengths. When do your customers most desire your services? Do you need to be open all the time or only occasionally? Could your services be best used somewhere else during the off season? Do you understand your best time to be of value.
Head of School vs Parent
Tiger Mothers and Helicopter Parents
Much conversation last week at the NAIS conference about the role of parenting. Two books that were compelling were Amy Chua’s, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. You can see an interview with Amy on Charlie Rose. Wendy Mogel was a presenter and offered an interesting perspective in her books, The Blessing of a B Minus and The Blessing of a Skinned Knee.
Behavior Placement
Network television has transitioned from product placement to behavior placement. The Wall Street Journal ran an article last year discussing the growing trend. In highlighting targeted behaviors such as recycling, community service, healthy eating, or exercise the networks have then been able to secure advertisers who are leaders in marketing to each of these targeted behaviors.
It makes me wonder what the social sector can attract as it contemplates behavior placement? What opportunities exist to maximize the return on trustworthiness, authenticity, transparency, community-mindedness? These are incredibly valuable attributes and have both an intangible and real value. In what ways can your enterprise find a collective vision with a major sponsor looking to highlight specific behavior placement?
What-if-concepts 