What is Organizational Leadership? | Managing Leadership | Managing Leadership

"If leadership in organizations really isn’t an individual characteristic, then what is it, and what does it do? It’s all well and good to argue that we’ve had it wrong all these years about how organizations are best led; it’s even entertaining to see the self-involved and self-congratulatory individual leader hauled over the coals for a change. But when we refocus on the issue after absorbing these ideas, there they remain: organizations. And the question remains, as well: how are they to be led?"

BuzzWhack's Buzzword Compliant Dictionary

"matrixed environment: A supposedly efficient organizational structure where workers answer to a functional department head, but most of their work is assigned and managed by a project manager from a different area. Judging from the number of help wanted ads looking for workers with experience in a matrixed environment, it must be hard to find people who want to work for two bosses."

Value Network Analysis | ValueNetworks.com

"Definition and overview of value network analysis

Value Network Analysis (VNA) considers value as an emergent property of networks. Underlying this approach is an understanding that intangible, but nonetheless strong relationships, and the intangible assets are the foundation of any successful business endeavor.

An organisation consists of real people playing a variety of roles in different activities. Any role controls a set of tangible and intangible assets or resources that support execution of the role. Assets are used to create value outputs or deliverables that can be traded for other forms of value, whether financial or non-financial. Basically, each role initiates or offers a potential deliverable for trade that becomes a completed value transaction upon acceptance by another role in the network"

Insurgent Desire - Twilight of the Machines

"Symbolic culture has atrophied our senses, repressed unmediated experience, and brought us, as Freud predicted, to a state of 'permanent internal unhappiness.' We are debased and impoverished to the point where we are forced to ask why human activity has become so hostile to humanity-- not to mention its enmity to other life forms on this planet."

Surplus: Anti-civilization Theory

Seth's Blog: Be careful of who you work for

"The single most important marketing decision most people make is also the one we spend precious little time on: where you work.Think about this for a second. Your boss and your job determine not only what you do all day, but what you learn and who you interact with. Where you work is what you market. Work in a high stress place and you're likely to become a highly stressed person, and your interactions will display that. Work for a narcissist and you'll develop into someone who's good at shining a light on someone else, not into someone who can lead. Work for someone who plays the fads and you'll discover that instead of building a steadily improving brand, you're jumping from one thing to another, enduring layoffs in-between gold rushes. Work for a bully and be prepared to be bullied."

The Social Web Analytics eBook

"About the Social Web Analytics eBook 2008

Technology has revolutionised communications, massively and irrevocably, to the benefit of the consumer, the adaptive and agile organisation, and those who cherish an open society.

This ebook gives a brief overview of the characteristics of the Social Web (also known as Social Media), but that’s not its primary purpose.

Rather, I review here how all organisations can try and make the most of the unprecedented wealth of information afforded by the Social Web, the incredible facility to ‘listen in’ on conversations close to their heart, and to initiate and engage in this dialogue. It has been relatively straight forward for PR professionals to work with a few dozen journalists; it has been a means to an end for advertisers to bludgeon brand values into targets; but today, keeping tabs on thousands of conversations is quite another challenge altogether – two-way dialogue between your stakeholders, and between you and your stakeholders."

Uses and Gratifications Theory - Mass Communication Context

"Uses and gratifications theory takes a more humanistic approach to looking at media use. Blumler and Katz believe that there is not merely one way that the populace uses media. Instead, they believe there are as many reasons for using the media, as there are media users. According to the theory, media consumers have a free will to decide how they will use the media and how it will effect them. Blumler and Katz values are clearly seen by the fact that they believe that media consumers can choose the influence media has on them as well as the idea that users choose media alternatives merely as a means to and end. Uses and gratification is the optimist's view of the media. The theory takes out the possibility that the media can have an unconscience influence over our lives and how we view the world. The idea that we simply use the media to satisfy a given need does not seem to fully recognize the power of the media in today's society."

Virtual Communities: Abort, Retry, Failure? | Jan Fernback & Brad Thompson

"People in virtual communities use words on screens to exchange pleasantries and argue, engage in intellectual discourse, conduct commerce, exchange knowledge, share emotional support, make plans, brainstorm, gossip, feud, fall in love, find friends and lose them, play games, flirt, create a little high art and a lot of idle talk. People in virtual communities do just about everything people do in real life, but we leave our bodies behind. You can't kiss anybody and nobody can punch you in the nose, but a lot can happen within those boundaries. To the millions who have been drawn into it, the richness and vitality of computer-linked cultures is attractive, even addictive."

Being an Unperson - silentmiaow

Johnnie Moore's Weblog: Whose language?

SEOmoz | The Internet Marketing Handbook

"The Internet Marketer's Handbook was compiled by Danny Dover and is the result of literally hundreds of hours of study and practice in internet marketing and search engine optimization techniques. The information below represents the web's best resources and tools. All of the items listed below are available to the general public and most are free of charge. Enjoy!"

That was the week that was...Week ending October 17, 2008 - RecruitingBlogs.com

"A round-up from the recruiting industry’s group blogs, portals and individual archives..."

Sharing, Privacy and Trust in Our Networked World [OCLC - Membership reports]

"The practice of using a social network to establish and enhance relationships based on some common ground—shared interests, related skills, or a common geographic location—is as old as human societies, but social networking has flourished due to the ease of connecting on the Web. This OCLC membership report explores this web of social participation and cooperation on the Internet and how it may impact the library’s role, including:

* The use of social networking, social media, commercial and library services on the Web
* How and what users and librarians share on the Web and their attitudes toward related privacy issues
* Opinions on privacy online
* Libraries’ current and future roles in social networking

The report is based on a survey (by Harris Interactive on behalf of OCLC) of the general public from six countries—Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States—and of library directors from the U.S. The research provides insights into the values and social-networking habits of library users."

The Cluetrain rides again - Michael Specht

"Almost 10 years ago Chris Locke, Doc Searls, David Weinberger and Rick Levine published a book that was going to change the way we saw the world, The Cluetrain Manifesto.

The basic premise in the book is that markets are conversations. Their members communicate in language that is natural, open, and honest, sometimes even direct. Basically you can’t fake it.

Most corporations, on the other hand, only know how to engage in a corporate monotone of mission statements, product strategies and , marketing brochures."

Determinism - The Paradox of Free Choice: Six Questions

"Determinism was an idea that evolved over many ages, reaching its pinnacle in the 19th century. The universe was seen as a big machine functioning along the same principle of cause and effect as a Swiss clock. It was married to another idea called Reductionism, which states that if we know what the basic particles of the universe are doing, we will be able to explain the behavior of all the big things that are made from those particles. That would include chemicals, plants, animals, and even us human beings.

Determinable systems had been observed and measured for millennia -- and more precisely since the time of Galileo. The assumption that all systems, including the most complex, are determinate was never demonstrated. Neither was reductionism. Neither was the assertion upon which it rested, that the universe is built of irreducibly small particles with predictable behaviors. These were all no more than assumptions made on the basis that, well, they sounded nice. Machines made by humans work this way, so why shouldn't the universe? Call it 'creating G-d in our image'."

The Four Horsemen: Dawkins, Dennett, Harris, Hitchens

Watch the series: The Four Horsemen: Dawkins, Dennett, Harris, Hitchens

The Neuroscience of Emotions

The Future of Blogging Revealed - ReadWriteWeb

"There has been a lot of talk lately about the changing face of the blogging landscape. Darren Rowse of ProBlogger asked if blogging has lost its relational focus; Scoble explained why tech blogging has failed you; and even though not everyone agreed with his every statement, there was a renewed commitment in the blogosphere to return to blogging about what excites instead of just writing about 'Apple's newest gizmo or the peccadillos of tech personalities.' However, we're wondering if people even need to blog anymore...at least in the traditional sense."

Stop Measuring ROI on Soft Skills Training > Trusted Advisor Associates > Trust Matters

"Let’s tackle a garden variety corporate orthodoxy: the one that says your company shouldn’t do training without a measurable return on your training investment.

Variations on the theme: if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it; all training must be defined in terms of behavioral objectives; each objective must link to behavioral milestones, each quantifiable and financially ratable.

Let me speak plainly: Subjecting soft-skills training to pure skills-mastery financial analytics is intellectually dishonest, foolish, wrong-headed, useless at best and counter-productive at worst."

Ten Tips to Make Change Work for You - Jeff Oltmann

Customers change their minds. Competitors zig instead of zagging. Technology advances. Change is constant, and prohibiting it on projects does not work.

In Flexible Product Development, Preston Smith asks, “Is a frozen specification simply fiction?” Citing thirteen years of data collection by Donald Reinertsen at Cal Tech, Smith concludes, “It is not that specifications seldom remain constant during development; it is that they never do. The concept of frozen requirements is a complete fiction in the real world.” You can’t prevent changes to your projects, but allowing rampant uncontrolled change dooms projects. Is there solution to this dilemma?

Dealing with the informational overflow | Encefalus

"Lately I have to deal with a lot of things in my life. So, I have been thinking about the relationship between information and the human cognitive system. How much information can we absord at a time? How can we filter the noise out of it and keep the useful stuff? How can we manage our time to perform this task better?"

That was the week that was...Week ending October 10, 2008 - RecruitingBlogs.com

"A round-up from the recruiting industry’s group blogs, portals and individual archives..."

Making Social Networks Profitable

"Imagine there was one number that could sum up how influential you are. It would take into account all manner of things, from how many people you know to how frequently you talk with them to how strongly they value your opinion. Your score could be compared with that of pretty much anyone in the world.

Maybe it'll be called your Google number. Google (GOOG) has a patent pending on technology for ranking the most influential people on social networking sites like MySpace (NWS) and Facebook. In a creative twist, Google is applying the same approach to social networks it has used to dominate the online search business. If this works, it may finally make ads on social networks relevant—and profitable."

Autonomy : Media Influencer

"Talking about ownership of data online in terms of control is fairly pointless. Once your data is out, it’s out. So instead of delving into the meaning of ownership and what it means in a decentralised, distributed and open network where sharing and transparency are default, let’s look at how the data is generated by the individual and shared through interactions with others."

Global Voices Online » Africa: Social Media in Africa

"Jonathan analyses advances in social media on the African continent: “Contrary to popular belief, Africa is not completely absent from the Internet. In fact, the continent at large is undergoing a connectivity revolution unlike anything it has ever seen.”"

10 Ways to Make Your Colleagues Hate You | Dumb Little Man

"If you’re an employee, chances are that you have colleagues. If you want to progress at work, you’ll find that being popular in the office helps - hate to say it, but it's true. Whether or not you enjoy playing the office politics game, you might need to at least be likable in order to win that big project, promotion or pay rise."

Virtual Recruiter Series — Week Commencing October 20, 2008 | BROWN BAG RECRUITER

"Hot on the heels of his amazing SourceCon 2008 presentation Michael Marlatt will be delivering a series of workshops and clinics that explain some ways that recruiters can begin to take advantage of what he describes as Cloud Recruiting…"

A TREATISE ON POLITICAL ECONOMY | Destutt de Tracy

All these bankers, exchangers, agents, lenders, discounters, at least the richest and most accredited amongst them, have a strong tendency to unite themselves into large companies... Government, on their part, are much disposed to favor the establishment of these large companies, and to give them privileges to the detriment of their rivals, and of the public, with the expectation of receiving from them loans, either gratuitous or at a low rate which these never refuse. It is thus that the one sells its protection and the other buys it; and this is already a very great evil.

Never Underestimate the Power of Vlogging

Influence & Authority in a Web 2.0 World « Magic and Lies

"When we talk about influence and authority in the Web, it means ‘the quality of being a trusted source’ or more simply, ‘credibility’. In real life we tend to treat as authoritative, people whose position or profession suggest a degree of knowledge greater than or equal to our own. A questioning mind continually tests this authority and once lost, it is difficult to regain.

My thoughts on this topic have been meandering slowly towards some kind of conclusion, but last week two things happened to accelerate the process."

Jill Bolte Taylor's stroke of insight | Video on TED.com

"Jill Bolte Taylor got a research opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: She had a massive stroke, and watched as her brain functions -- motion, speech, self-awareness -- shut down one by one. An astonishing story."

Overcoming the trust barrier of your prospective customers | Workforce 2 Salesforce

"When you sell to a new prospect, you have to over come their trust (or distrust) barrier. Why should a prospective customer believe what you tell them?

But when your prospect receives a recommendation from a friend (who is already a customer of your company), you have already proved yourself to the person making the recommendation. You have already answered each of the seven objections the grumpy old man in the advert raises. These objections can then be answered in the mind of your prospective customers, not by you, but by the best sales persion in the world and somebody your prospect trusts — their friend (who is an existing happy customer of yours)."

Semantic Web Patterns: A Guide to Semantic Technologies - ReadWriteWeb

"In this article, we'll analyze the trends and technologies that power the Semantic Web. We'll identify patterns that are beginning to emerge, classify the different trends, and peak into what the future holds."

Cloud computing begets cloud recruiting -- Comments

"First, the ubiquity argument contradicts the competitive advantage argument.

I'm not sure what you mean by that but it sounds like the 'how do I make money with open source?' misnomer.

In the context of cloud computing [read: cloud recruiting] ubiquity refers to the unfettered access to data, networks, people and so on. This is made possible with enabling technology like wireless, relatively cheap mobile devices, and stuff like SaaS [software as a service] where applications are hosted remotely.

Being able to understand how this technology gives recruiters a significant edge is the source of competitive advantage not its antithesis."

That was the week that was...Week ending October 3, 2008 - RecruitingBlogs.com

"A round-up from the recruiting industry’s group blogs, portals and individual archives..."

Anatomy of a Train Wreck | Causes of the Mortgage Meltdown | Stan J. Liebowitz

Why did the mortgage market melt down so badly? Why were there so many defaults when the economy was not particularly weak? Why were the securities based upon these mortgages not considered anywhere as risky as they actually turned out to be? This report concludes that, in an attempt to increase home ownership, particularly by minorities and the less affluent, virtually every branch of them government undertook an attack on underwriting standards starting in the early 1990s.

How Do You Infect Minds? | The Relationship Economy......

"An infection of our minds is the colonization of our thoughts by the thoughts and words of others. In an infection, the infecting thoughts and words from others seek to utilize our resources to multiply. The infecting words interacts with the normal thinking of our minds and can lead to a “viral infection” when we pass on the thoughts and words onto others."

Blogging Tools And Techniques: State Of The Blogosphere 2008 - Robin Good's Latest News

"How do you blog? Which tools or techniques do you use to keep your content always fresh and updated? Even if you got ideas, layout and a catchy title, this is just the easy part. Creating a blog is now something you can do in just a few clicks. The hardest part comes right after."

Greg Verdino: Marketing, Media & Trends: Cloud computing begets cloud recruiting

"We seem to hear a lot about the many ways social media can be a personal branding boon or bust for business people. Get it right and it could mean new career opportunities, industry recognition, all sorts of interesting connections, and more. Get it wrong and it can be the ultimate career limiting (ending?) move.

We don't seem to hear enough about what the social media revolution means for employers and recruiters, for whom finding talent has become exponentially more complex. When I talk about the need to tap into new technologies, emerging channels and social computing to transform the company from within, I'm thinking about the ways in which even so-called back office departments like human resources can use these tools to create and sustain competitive advantage for their businesses. In other words, how can even a lone recruiter turn technological change into a key factor in finding and attracting top talent? Or -- to look at this from the opposite point of view -- how can missing the boat turn your company into little more than a holding pen for B- and C-list employees?

Change impacts everyone; not just those of us with the words 'marketing' or 'innovation' on our business cards.

Enter Microsoft recruiting consultant Michael Marlatt and the concept of Cloud Recruiting..."